H.  CH API-NT. 


/ 


BANCROFT    LIBRARY 


BANCROFT    LIBRARY 


MOUNTAINEERING  IN  COLORADO. 


MOUNTAINEERING  IN  COLORADO 


Clje  |&eafes  &bout 


BY 


FREDERICK   H.^CHAPIN 


BOSTON 

APPALACHIAN    MOUNTAIN    CLUB 
1889 


F 


71'i 


Copyright,  1889, 
BY  FREDERICK  HASTINGS  CHAPIN, 


SCniittrsitg  frtss: 
JOHN  WILSON  AND  SON,  CAMBRIDGE. 


SCo  tlje 

OF 

A.  L.  S.  C. 

WHO  WAS   A   LOVER   OF   THE    MOUNTAINS   AND    OF  ALL    THAT    IS 

BEAUTIFUL  AMONG   THEM,    AND   WHOSE    COMPANIONSHIP 

INSPIRED    THIS    VOLUME. 


PKEFACE. 


THE  day  for  making  striking  discoveries  in 
the  Kocky  Mountains  is  past.  It  is  now 
three  centuries  and  more,  since  Alvaro  Cabeqa 
de  Vaca  with  three  followers  traversed  the  con- 
tinent from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  the  Spanish 
settlements  on  the  Pacific  coast.  His  wanderings 
led  him  through  the  region  now  known  as  New 
Mexico  ;  thus  he  beheld  and  crossed  the  southern 
Rockies.  Nearly  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  later, 
two  French  explorers,  the  brothers  La  Ve'rendrye, 
crossed  the  prairies  from  the  great  lakes,  and,  reach- 
ing a  point  near  the  sources  of  the  Yellowstone 
River,  were  the  first  white  men  to  look  upon  the 
northern  peaks.  Since  the  day  of  these  early 
adventurers  the  exploring  parties  of  Lewis  and 
Clark,  Pike,  Long,  and  Fremont  have  opened  the 
way ;  and  more  recently  the  better  equipped  ex- 
peditions of  Hayden,  Powell,  King,  and  others 
have  explored  the  sierras  and  canons,  especially 
those  of  Colorado. 


IV  PKEFACE. 

There  remain  only  byways  and  corners  to  be 
more  thoroughly  searched ;  and  fortunate  will  be 
the  adventurer  who  finds  anything  of  note  that 
has  not  already  been  seen  and  written  about  by 
the  indefatigable  members  of  survey  parties  that 
have  preceded  him. 

But  in  climbing  some  of  the  peaks  in  the  au- 
tumn of  1886  I  saw  much  that  was  novel,  and 
during  succeeding  seasons  other  remarkable  sights 
forced  themselves,  as  it  were,  right  before  my 
camera.  Mr.  Ferguson,  a  pioneer  of  '59,  at  whose 
ranch  I  stayed  while  in  Estes  Park,  told  me,  on 
the  day  of  my  leaving,  "  I  reckon  no  man  ever 
came  into  this  Park  before,  and  saw  as  much  as 
you  have  seen."  Some  of  the  success  which  was 
attained  in  certain  carefully  planned  expeditions 
was  due  to  luck  ;  more  must  be  placed  to  the 
credit  of  the  clear  skies  and  continual  sunshine 
of  Colorado. 

Though  I  have  made  many  ascents  in  other 
parts  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  the  peaks  most 
thoroughly  explored  are  those  that  surround  Estes 
Park ;  for  this  reason  it  has  been  decided  to  limit 
the  present  descriptions  to  these  northern  peaks. 
The  earlier  ascents  have  proved  very  useful,  how- 
ever, in  enabling  me  to  identify  different  points 
seen  in  extended  mountain  views. 


PREFACE.  V 

It  will  be  noticed  that  on  several  occasions  we 
added  to  the  nomenclature  of  the  range ;  this, 
however,  was  done  only  in  cases  where  we  felt 
compelled  to  have  a  name  for  mountain  or  snow- 
field.  Wherever  an  expedition  is  recorded  as  new, 
the  claim  is  made  on  the  authority  of  the  frontiers- 
men who  have  lived  longest  in  the  mountains. 

With  the  exception  of  records  of  second  ex- 
peditions on  the  same  mountain,  the  narrative 
follows  the  order  of  the  dates  of  the  ascents. 

Upon  the  illustrations  depends  much  of  the  in- 
terest of  the  book.  With  but  few  exceptions  they 
are  made  directly  from  negatives  taken  in  my  vari- 
ous expeditions.  They  cost  hard  work  and  great 
care ;  to  obtain  them  our  packs  were  often  heavy. 
The  reproductions  were  made  by  the  Boston  Pho- 
togravure Company. 

Parts  of  the  chapters  on  Long's  Peak,  Mummy 
Mountain,  and  Ypsilou  Peak  were  originally 
printed  in  "  Appalachia,"  the  journal  of  the  Ap- 
palachian Mountain  Club;  and  certain  episodes 
related  in  Chapters  II.  and  VII.  appeared  in 
"Scribner's  Magazine"  for  February,  1889.  I 
am  under  great  obligations  to  Messrs.  Charles 
Scribner's  Sons  for  their  kind  permission  to  print 
certain  pages,  and  also  for  the  use  of  their  en- 
graving "  Photographing  the  Big-horn,"  which 


VI  PREFACE. 

accompanied  the  original  text.  It  has  been  re- 
duced by  a  photographic  process. 

It  is  believed  that  the  catalogue  of  the  flora  of 
Estes  Park,  printed  as  an  appendix,  will  be  of  in- 
terest to  many  who  visit  the  Eockies.  The  speci- 
mens named  were  for  the  most  part  collected  by 
my  wife  during  her  two  summers'  residence  in 
the  Park.  Coulter's  "Manual  of  the  Botany  of 
the  Eocky  Mountain  Region  "  is  the  authority  fol- 
lowed. The  list  has  been  revised  and  extended  by 
Mrs.  George  W.  Thacher,  an  indefatigable  botanist 
and  an  ardent  lover  of  Colorado's  mountains. 

It  is  very  flattering  to  me  that  the  Appalachian 
Mountain  Club,  for  whose  members  many  of  the 
articles  forming  this  volume  were  primarily  written, 
should  have  deemed  them  worthy  of  publication 
under  its  auspices.  Lest  the  general  reader  should 
be  disturbed  by  the  personalities  of  the  narrative, 
the  author  would  remind  him  that  the  style  is  one 
customary  in  the  large  and  increasing  literature  of 
mountaineering. 


CONTENTS. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS ix 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.    ESTES  PARK 13 

II.    LONG'S  PEAK 24 

III.  MOUNT  HALLETT 69 

IV.  TABLE  MOUNTAIN  .  , 87 

V.    MUMMY  MOUNTAIN 97 

VI.    YPSILON  PEAK 119 

VII.    HAGUE'S  PEAK 136 

VIII.    STONE'S  PEAK                                       .  147 


APPENDIX. 
A  PARTIAL  LIST  OF  PLANTS  GROWING  IN  ESTES  PARK, 

COLORADO     .  163 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Plates. 

I.    Long's  Peak  from  Table  Mountain      .     .  Frontispiece 

Facing  page 

II.    Deer  Mountain  from  Ferguson's  Ranch  ...  13 

III.  Summit  of  Long's  Peak  over  Crags  of  Mount 

Hallett 23 

IV.  Precipice  on  Mount  Hallett 68 

V.    View  down  Gorge  between  Table  and  Hallett 

Mountains 87 

VI.    Hallett  Glacier 97 

VII.    Crevasse  on  Hallett  Glacier 109 

VIII.    Ypsilou  Peak  from  Deer  Mountain      ....  119 

IX.    Unnamed  Mountain  west  of  Ypsilon  Peak   .     .  132 
X.    Mount  Fairchild  and  Hague's  Peak  over  Mary's 

Lake 136 

XI.    Mount  Hallett  to   Stone's  Peak,  from    Deer 

Mountain  .                   .  147 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


foitfj  tjje 

PAGE 

Ferguson's  Ranch 17 

Head  of  Big-horn 20 

Near  Timber-line  on  Sprague's  Trail 22 

Front- Range  from  Sheep  Mountain 23 

Long's  Peak  from  Lamb's  Ranch 29 

Cliffs  on  Long's  Peak 34 

View  from  the  "  Trough,"  Long's  Peak 37 

View  from  Summit  of  Long's  Peak,  westward    ...  39 

The  Cliffs  of  Long  from  the  East  Side 45 

Lake  on  Long's  Peak,  Lily  Mountain  in  the  Distance  47 

Winding  Snow-field  on  Long's  Peak 50 

Section  of  Snow-field  on  Long's  Peak 54 

The  Great  Moraine  on  Long's  Peak 58 

Across  the  Gorge  to  Escarpment  of  the  East  Peak  .     .  59 

Old  Beaver  Dam,  Rock  Creek 62 

Old  Beaver  House 63 

New  Beaver  Dam,  Wind  River 64 

Inhabited  Beaver  House 65 

"We  Three" 67 

Peak  of  Mount  Hallett 71 

The  Quarry 79 

View  from  Table  Mountain,  southward 83 

On  Furlough 94 

Ancient  Bed  of  the  Hallett  Glacier  .  102 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS.  XI 

PAGE 

Ledges  above  the  Hallett  Glacier 104 

"  Old  Ephraim  " 106 

Crossing  the  Hallett  Glacier 110 

Tower  above  the  Hallett  Glacier,  with  Profile  Rock      .  115 

Indian  Wickyup 120 

Gazing  at  Ypsilon  from  Deer  Mountain 122 

Near  Camp  Ypsilon 125 

Arete  of  Ypsilon  Peak 133 

Bivouacking  ten  thousand  Feet  above  the  Sea     .     .     .  135 

Granite  Cliffs  in  Black  Canon 137 

Camp  iu  Black  Canon 138 

Summit  of  Hague's  Peak  from  Mount  Fairchild      .     .  140 

South  Centre  of  the  Hallett  Glacier 143 

Playground  of  the  Big-horn 149 

Up  the  Big  Thompson,  Long's  Peak  in  the  Distance     .  160 

The  Original  Ranch-house  at  Ferguson's 161 

A  Ptarmigan ;  Summer  Plumage,  under  side  ....  162 


MOUNTAINEERING  IN  COLORADO- 


CHAPTER  i. 

ESTES   PARK. 

mighty  ranges  of  the  Eockies  come 
JL  sweeping  down  from  the  north,  through 
Montana  and  northern  Wyoming,  as  several 
nearly  parallel  ranges,  occupying  a  great  breadth 
of  country,  in  some  sections  as  much  as  four  hun- 
dred miles.  South  of  Fremont's  Peak  the  several 
ranges  give  place  to  a  high  plateau,  over  which 
the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  finds  a  way  from  Chey- 
enne westward.  From  this  plateau  the  mountains 
rise  again  to  great  heights  and  enter  central  Colo- 
rado as  two  distinct  ranges,  —  the  Medicine  Bow 
Mountains  on  the  east,  and  the  Park  Range  far- 
ther to  the  west.  The  Front  Range,  so  called 
from  its  geographical  position,  rises  abruptly  from 
the  plains  in  northern  Colorado,  and  is  marked  by 
such  lofty  summits  as  Hague's  Peak  (13,832  feet) 


14  MOUNTAINEERING   IN    COLORADO. 

and  Long's  Peak  (14,271  feet),  in  the  north,  and 
Pike's  Peak  (14,147  feet),  near  the  end  of  the 
range,  a  hundred  miles  farther  south.  Then  comes 
a  break  in  the  chain,  where  the  Arkansas  Eiver 
flows  through  deep  canons  on  its  journey  to 
the  plains.  South  of  this  break  the  Wet  Eiver 
Mountains  and  the  Sangre  de  Cristo  Eange  mark 
the  eastern  borders  of  the  Eockies  of  Colorado. 

Standing  upon  some  high  peak  in  the  centre  of 
the  great  ranges  that  front  on  the  plains,  one  sees, 
a  hundred  miles  away  toward  the  New  Mexico 
line,  that  noble  peak  of  the  southern  Eockies, 
Sierra  Blanca.  In  the  opposite  direction,  one 
hundred  miles  to  the  north,  towers  Long's  Peak,  its 
mighty  mass  dwarfing  all  other  mountains  near 
it.  To  reach  Sierra  Blanca,  the  traveller  ascends 
by  the  famous  railway,  with  its  mule-shoe  curve, 
over  Veta  Pass,  through  scenery  of  world-renowned 
grandeur ;  but  if  he  will  climb  the  slopes  of 
Blanca  Peak  to  timber-line,  he  will  behold  scenery 
that  will  for  the  moment  almost  obliterate  from 
his  mind  the  fact  that  there  is  such  a  place  as 
Veta  Pass. 

To  reach  the  vales  near  Long's  Peak,  the  old 
stage-coach  must  serve  the  tourists'  purpose.  The 
narrow-gauge  line  of  the  Denver,  Utah,  and  Pacific 
Eailroad,  now  a  link  in  the  great  Burlington  sys- 


ESTES   PARK.  15 

tern,  lands  him  at  Lyons,  the  last  station  on  the 
plains,  at  the  base  of  the  range,  and  a  stage- 
ride  of  thirty  miles  brings  him  to  the  beautiful 
valley  of  Estes  Park.  Here,  too,  as  in  San  Luis 
Park  and  in  the  neighborhood  of  Sierra  Blanca, 
remarkable  as  are  the  valleys  and  foot-hills,  there 
are  scenes  among  the  mountain  tops  which  far 
surpass  in  beauty  and  sublimity  any  of  those 
viewed  along  the  railway  or  stage  lines.  To  ap- 
preciate the  wonders  of  the  sierras,  one  must 
climb  among  them. 

Estes  Park,  in  which  are  many  picturesque 
scenes,  is  the  natural  centre  for  mountaineering  in 
northern  Colorado.  It  is  situated  near  the  Wyo- 
ming line,  and  about  seventy  miles  northwest  of 
Denver.  Its  elevation  is  about  seven  thousand 
feet  above  the  sea.  There  are  about  ten  thousand 
acres  of  pasture-land  bordering  the  banks  of  the 
Big  Thompson  Creek  and  the  smaller  streams,  and 
these  have  all  been  taken  up  as  homestead  claims 
by  pioneers.  Seven  thousand  acres  have  passed 
into  the  hands  of  an  English  company,  which,  I 
was  informed,  were  originally  intended  for  a  great 
game  preserve,  but  the  ranch  interests  are  now 
predominant,  and  large  herds  of  cattle  of  graded 
Hereford  breeds  roam  through  the  pastures.  Be- 
sides the  ranch  of  the  English  company,  —  which 


16  MOUNTAINEERING  IN   COLORADO. 

owns  a  small  hotel  here,  —  there  are  five  other 
ranches  in  the  Park ;  and  at  one  of  these,  Fergu- 
son's, we  made  our  headquarters  for  two  seasons. 

The  early  history  of  Estes  Park  has  been  told ; 
but  the  place  is  so  little  visited,  except  by  the 
dwellers  on  the  plains  near  the  foot-hills,  that  a 
few  words  describing  its  present  condition  and 
its  settlement  may  be  of  interest. 

The  precious  metals  not  being  found  in  this 
region,  no  railway  winds  through  the  canon  of 
the  St.  Vrain,  nor  through  the  rough  Muggin's 
Gulch.  The  whistle  of  the  locomotive  is  never 
heard  in  the  valley ;  and  except  that,  instead  of 
the  primitive  elk  and  deer,  a  few  cattle  roam 
through  the  pastures,  and  that  an  occasional  wire 
fence  closes  the  narrow  entrance  from  one  valley 
to  another,  little  is  changed  from  the  original 
aspect  of  the  country. 

Mr.  Lamb,  who  lives  at  the  immediate  base  of 
Long's  Peak,  settled  there  in  1876.  Mr.  Ferguson 
came  into  the  valley  some  fourteen  years  ago. 
Originally  from  Missouri,  he  was  a  pioneer  of 
'59,  crossed  the  plains  with  an  ox-team,  and  set- 
tled in  the  lowlands  of  Colorado ;  but  he  was 
unfortunate  in  having  his  crops  destroyed  by 
grasshoppers.  He  came  up  into  the  mountains 
prospecting,  and  from  the  Loveland  divide  had  his 


18  MOUNTAINEERING  IN   COLORADO. 

first  look  at  Estes  Park.  He  quickly  made  up 
his  mind  to  settle  in  it.  He  still  tells,  with  a 
glow  of  enthusiasm,  of  his  first  view  of  the  valley. 
Even  after  taking  up  his  claim  in  this  out-of-the- 
way  place,  he  was  troubled  again  by  the  insect 
that  had  caused  his  first  great  loss ;  but  observing 
the  approach  of  the  pest  up  through  the  narrow 
glade  that  leads  from  Estes  Park  to  his  higher 
claim,  he  felled  timber,  made  a  barricade,  set  fire 
to  it,  and  saved  his  crops.  His  ranch  is  delight- 
fully situated,  and,  though  a  rnile  from  the  river, 
is  supplied  with  cold  clear  water  from  a  never- 
failing  spring.  From  the  cabins  around  Fergu- 
son's ranch  a  magnificent  view  is  obtained  of  the 
great  Mummy  Eange ;  and  the  sunset  lights  on 
the  cliffs  of  Lily  Mountain,  to  the  east,  are  inde- 
scribably beautiful.  Especially  is  this  true  during 
the  waning  of  the  rainy  season,  if  the  slight  rain- 
falls of  June  and  July  can  be  so  called.  The 
mornings  during  this  season  are  clear  and  beauti- 
ful ;  but  in  the  early  afternoon  the  great  peak  of 
the  Mummy  will  perhaps  throw  off  its  cloud 
streamer,  and  in  an  hour  or  two  thunder  will 
rattle  among  the  crags  of  Sheep  Mountain,  and 
the  rain  pour  down  upon  the  dry  pastures.  In  a 
few  hours  the  sun  almost  gains  the  mastery  once 
more ;  and  though  the  pine-belts  and  valleys  may 


ESTES   PARK.  19 

be  covered  with  ascending  vapors,  the  peak  of 
Lily  will  glow  with  gorgeous  hues.  It  is  probably 
some  such  spectacle  as  this  that  makes  one  of  the 
early  writers  about  this  valley  claim  for  it  the 
finest  scenery  in  the  world.  This  statement  is 
hardly  justified,  for  we  cannot  apply  to  the  sur- 
rounding mountains,  however  beautiful  they  may 
be,  the  words  of  Hiouen  Tsang  in  describing  a 
Himalayan  view  :  "  The  top  of  the  mountain  rises 
to  the  sky."  *  Yet  Long's  Peak,  with  its  great 
altitude,  is  truly  a  cloud-piercer.  Like  Mount 
Hood,  which  has  probably  gone  up  and  down  in 
the  scale  of  estimated  heights  more  than  any  other 
mountain  in  the  West,  its  stated  altitude  has  been 
subject  to  marked  variation.  It  was  given  in 
1857  as  15,000  feet,  in  1879  as  14,700,  while 
its  present  accepted  elevation  is  14,271  feet. 

Near  by  Ferguson's  is  Mary's  Lake,  a  little 
sheet  of  alkaline  water,  Lily  Mountain  rising  on 
the  south,  Sheep  Mountain  on  the  west,  and  Pros- 
pect Mountain  on  the  east.  It  was  formerly  a 
great  resort  for  big-horn,  elk,  and  deer,  which 
came  in  great  numbers  to  the  lake,  as  they  would 
to  a  salt-lick;  and  many  have  been  shot  there. 
Mr.  Ferguson  told  how  in  those  days,  when  hunted 

*  Quoted  by  Andrew  Wilson,  Abode  of  Snow,  p.  274  : 
Putnam,  1875. 


20  MOUNTAINEERING   IN    COLORADO. 

near  the  lake,  the  big-horn  would  scramble  up  the 
steep  isolated  ledges  which  rise  out  of  the  open 
country  to  a  height  of  one  or  two  hundred  feet. 
They  were  then  easily  surrounded,  and  escape 
from  rifle-armed  hunters  was  impossible.  This, 
however,  was  in  the  early  days  of  the  country's 

settlement,  and 
before  the  big- 
horn had  learned 
the  ways  of 
hunters. 

This  very 
wild  ani- 
mal is  un- 
doubtedly 
the  rarest 
and  most 
interest- 
ing game 
found  in 
the  Kocky 

Mountains  of  Wyoming  and  Colorado.*  Hunters 
and  ranchmen  assured  me  that  it  had  entirely 

*  The  accompanying  illustration  of  the  head  of  a  young  ram 
is  made  from  an  animal  which  Mr.  Ferguson  shot  on  the  banks 
of  Mary's  lake.  The  circumference  of  the  horns  in  the  illustra- 
tion, at  the  base  next  the  head,  is  thirteen  and  three-fourths 
inches  ;  length  of  horn,  nineteen  and  a  half  inches. 


ESTES   PARK.  21 

forsaken  the  Front  Eange,  and  was  to  be  found 
only  in  the  mountains  beyond  North  Park,  or  in 
Wyoming;  but  I  was  able  to  prove  it  otherwise. 
The  higher  sierras  retain  all  their  primeval  wild- 
ness.  Many  of  the  peaks  in  the  Front  and  Rab- 
bit Ear  Ranges  remain  unsealed,  canons  among 
them  are  still  unexplored,  and  dark  forests  which 
fill  the  upper  valleys  have  never  known  the  foot 
of  man;  so  that  the  chance  which  the  explorer 
runs  of  meeting  with  rare  wild  animals,  some- 
times of  a  ferocious  type,  makes  mountaineering 
in  the  Rockies  more  exciting  than  in  the  older 
countries. 

Aside  from  the  deer,  which  are  numerous,  the 
most  common  large  animal  in  Estes  Park  is  prob- 
ably the  bear.  The  brown  and  cinnamon  bear  are 
the  species  generally  met  with.  I  am  informed 
that  there  is  perhaps  no  real  difference  between 
the  two,  for  when  a  litter  of  cubs  is  found,  some 
of  the  young  ones  are  black  and  some  are  brown. 
Grizzlies  are  rarely  seen;  but  it  is  related  by 
ranchmen  in  Estes  Park  that  during  the  summer  of 
1886  one  made  himself  quite  at  home  in  the  val- 
ley, and  one  night  while  wandering  around  killed 
several  full-grown  steers.  Lamb,  the  guide  to 
Long's  Peak,  says  that  he  saw  his  tracks  many 
times.  A  mountain  lion  was  seen  at  Sprague's 


22 


MOUNTAINEERING   IN    COLORADO. 


ranch  during  the  early  winter  of  the  same  year, 
coolly  prowling  around  and  among  the  log- 
cabins. 

As  before 
stated,  the 
principal  vis- 
itors in  this 
upland  valley 
are  from  the 
low  regions  of 
Larimer  Coun- 
ty. Many  of 
them  bring 
tents  and 
cooking  uten- 
sils, and  camp 
by  the  Big 
Thompson  or 
the  St.  Vrain 
Eivers.  The 
visitors  at  the 
ranches  are 
from  Denver 

Near  Timber-line  on  Sprague's  Trail.  and     far     east- 

ern     towns. 

Trout-fishing  is  the  principal  sport.  Hunters  are 
more  attracted  to  the  North  Park,  which  one 


ESTES   PARK. 


23 


may  reach  by  Cameron's  Pass.  The  lover  of 
high  mountain  ascents  finds  a  good  field  for 
novel  expeditions  throughout  the  range;  for, 
with  the  exception  of  Long's  Peak,  the  high 
elevations  are  rarely  visited. 

Some  of  these  objective  points  are  visible  from 
Ferguson's  Eanch;  one  has  but  to  take  a  half- 
hour's  stroll  on  Sheep  Mountain  near  at  hand,  to 
behold  a  long  line  of  noble  peaks  from  a  point 
where  Albert  Bierstadt  made  many  studies  for 
one  of  his  great  pictures. 


CHAPTEK  II. 

LONG'S  PEAK. 


LONG'S  PEAK  is  of  great  interest  to  the 
mountaineer.  It  is  the  highest  point  in 
northern  Colorado,  and  its  ascent  is  more  difficult 
than  that  of  any  other  peak  in  the  range.  It  has 
been  rather  fancifully  named  the  "  American  Mat- 
terhorn  ; "  but  when  we  consider  that  one  side  is 
actually  inaccessible,  perhaps  it  is  worthy  the 
comparison,  —  for  the  Matterhorn  has  been  as- 
cended by  ardtes  on  all  sides,  though,  of  course, 
its  easiest  line  of  ascent  is  manifold  harder  to 
conquer  than  is  the  ordinary  route  of  Long's 
Peak. 

Before  narrating  our  experiences  on  Long's  Peak 
itself,  perhaps  it  would  be  well  to  speak  of  several 
views  of  the  mountain  from  points  in  and  around 
Estes  Park.  One  thing  very  noticeable  is  the 
fact  that  the  mountain  presents  so  widely  different 
aspects  when  seen  from  the  four  points  of  the 
compass.  From  the  plains  to  the  southeast,  two 


'  \^3$$i*»  ^5ji£^" " 

SUMMIT   OF   LONG'S   PEAK   OVER   CRAGS   OF    MOUNT   HALLETT. 


LONG'S  PEAK.  25 

noble  peaks  appear  as  if  of  nearly  equal  altitude. 
From  the  top  of  Sheep  Mountain,  —  a  long  range 
(9,000  feet)  near  Ferguson's  ranch, — the  final  cone, 
only  five  miles  away,  demonstrates  its  superior- 
ity, and  grandly  lifts  its  head  over  the  intervening 
wooded  slopes  of  Estes  Cone.  Wind  Eiver  Val- 
ley, which  lies  between  Sheep  Mountain  and  the 
main  range,  is  2,000  feet  lower  than  Sheep  Moun- 
tain; so  from  this  elevation  one  may  behold  a 
slope  of  7,000  feet  leading  up  to  the  summit  of 
the  principal  peak.  Still  more  majestic  is  its 
appearance  from  the  top  of  Prospect  Mountain, 
eight  miles  distant  and  overlooking  Sheep  Moun- 
tain, which  is  then  projected  against  the  base  of 
the  great  range.  But  by  far  the  most  striking 
view  is  that  obtained  from  Table  Mountain,  a 
peak  on  the  Continental  divide,  about  six  miles  to 
the  northwest.  I  imagine  that  very  few  persons 
have  beheld  Long's  Peak  from  this  direction  ;  and 
the  photograph  from  which  the  illustration  that 
precedes  this  chapter  was  made,  cost  me  many 
hours  of  climbing  and  much  setting  up  of  the 
camera  and  experimenting  before  this  most  char- 
acteristic view  was  obtained.  The  appearance  of 
the  noble  mountain  is  like  a  citadel  perched  upon 
enormous  bastions  and  protected  by  ramparts 
made  by  intervening  walls  of  rock. 


26  MOUNTAINEERING   IN   COLORADO. 

Mountaineers  may  realize,  from  examination  of 
this  illustration,  what  a  splendid  field  it  is  for  new 
expeditions,  - —  either  to  follow  the  summit  of  the 
chain  along  the  spur  to  the  right,  or  to  explore 
the  upper  canons  and  glacial  lakelets.  The  nu- 
merous lakes  among  these  gorges  add  greatly  to 
the  picturesqueness  of  the  views.  A  summer 
spent  among  these  rock  walls  would  present  any 
number  of  varying  excursions  which  would  show 
to  the  explorer  marvellous  and  enjoyable  sights, 
with  the  bare  possibility  that  he  might  find  some- 
thing that  would  add  to  our  stock  of  knowledge. 
Members  of  foreign  alpine  clubs  have  thoroughly 
explored  and  photographed  the  ice  districts  of 
Switzerland,  and  partially  so  the  Caucasus  ;  but 
the  noble  work  of  the  survey  parties  in  the  sierras 
of  Colorado  has  not  yet  been  supplemented  to  any 
great  extent  by  individual  effort.  The  same  work 
remains  to  be  done  among  the  higher  elevations 
of  the  whole  great  chain  reaching  from  New 
Mexico  to  Alaska,  that  has  been  done  by  Euro- 
pean alpine  clubs  in  Switzerland,  and  is  being 
marked  out  by  the  Appalachian  Mountain  Club 
in  New  England.  Paths  are  to  be  made,  trails  to 
be  cut,  detail  maps  to  be  laid  out,  before  the 
grandest  scenes  among  the  mountains  can  be 
shown  to  the  tourist. 


LONG'S  PEAK.  27 

It  is  a  rare  occurrence  in  Estes  Park  to  have 
four  successive  rainy  days ;  but  so  it  happened  in 
the  summer  of  1887,  from  July  14  to  17.  The 
season,  however,  had  been  very  dry,  and  the 
parched  ground  needed  the  deluge  which  it  re- 
ceived. The  sun  appeared  at  intervals  during 
each  of  these  days,  but  it  would  soon  be  hidden 
and  the  storm  would  continue.  We  had  set  sev- 
eral times  for  an  attack  on  Long's  Peak  ;  but  the 
weather  had  put  us  back,  and  we  knew,  from  the 
whitened  appearance  of  Mummy  Mountain,  that 
much  snow  was  falling  on  the  great  range.  At 
last,  however,  on  Monday,  July  18,  we  had  a  clear 
day,  and  made  arrangements  to  start  in  the  after- 
noon for  Lamb's  ranch,  —  which  is  situated  at  the 
base  of  the  peak,  —  there  to  spend  the  night,  and 
in  the  morning  make  an  attempt  to  gain  the  de- 
sired summit.  There  were  four  of  us  in  the  party; 
and  two  of  the  number  left  Ferguson's  at  five 
o'clock,  while  with  one  companion  I  rode  over 
after  tea,  arriving  at  Lamb's  at  eight. 

Even  this  part  of  the  expedition  is  full  of  inter- 
est. The  road  skirts  the  side  of  Mary's  Lake,  and 
leads  through  wide  pastures  for  the  first  two  miles  ; 
then  passes  up  a  steep  hill,  through  a  forest,  with 
the  stupendous  cliffs  of  Lily  Mountain  hanging 
over  the  valley.  This  mountain  is  11,453  feet  in 


28       MOUNTAINEERING  IN  COLORADO. 

height  above  sea-level,  and  its  summit  corresponds 
with  the  average  of  timber-line  on  the  great  range. 
The  upper  cliffs  are  steep  and  bare  on  the  inner 
side,  while  on  the  eastern  side,  which  is  a  gradual 
slope,  heavy  timber  grows  to  the  top ;  hence  from 
the  plains  the  mountain  has  an  entirely  different 
appearance,  showing  two  black  summits,  and  is 
called  by  another  name,  "  The  Twin  Sisters." 
Lily  Lake,  quite  a  large  expanse  of  water,  lies  at 
the  base  of  the  mountain,  and  gives  it  its  name, 
As  we  passed  the  lake,  we  saw  several  mallard 
ducks  on  its  surface. 

Our  host,  Mr.  Ferguson,  tells  this  story :  Many 
years  ago,  with  one  companion,  he  was  shooting  on 
the  edge  of  this  lake.  They  discharged  their  guns 
into  a  flock  of  mallards  which  were  out  on  the 
water,  but  with  no  other  effect  than  to  cause  the 
frightened  ducks  to  fly  over  Sheep  Mountain  to 
another  lake.  Very  soon  he  noticed  them  return- 
ing in  his  direction,  and  two  of  them  flying  in  a 
straight  line  at  as  rapid  a  rate  as  possible,  while 
the  others  bore  away  down  the  valley.  The  fore- 
most bird  struck  the  lake  in  the  centre,  and  dived 
out  of  sight ;  and  then  Mr.  Ferguson  saw  that  the 
one  following  was  a  very  large  eagle,  which,  foiled 
in  the  pursuit,  soared  into  a  tree  and  alighted 
there.  The  hunters  now  emptied  barrel  after 


LONG'S  TEAK. 


29 


barrel  at  the  duck  ;  but  they  could  not  frighten  it 
out  of  the  lake,  where  it  remained  until  they  finally 
killed  it.  The  eagle,  of  course,  escaped. 

Lamb's  claim  is  in  a  high,  well-watered  valley ; 
in  fact,  it  is  al- 
most a  swamp  in 
some  places. 
The  elevation 
is  about  8,500  ^ 
feet  above  the 
sea,  making  it 
about  1000 
feet  above 
Ferguson's 
ranch.  Mr. 
Lamb  senior 
took  up  a 
homes  tead 
claim  here, 
some  ten  years 
ago,  and  for 
many  years 
guided  travel- 
lers up  the  peak;  but  for  the  past  three  years 
his  son  Carlyle  has  done  this  work,  and  had  al- 
ready ascended  fifty-five  times  at  the  date  of 
our  visit.  He  is  a  strong,  willing  guide ;  and 


Long's  Peak  from  Lamb's  Ranch. 


30  MOUNTAINEERING   IN   COLORADO. 

he  worked  very  hard  for  me,  for  our  packs 
were  heavy.  Until  my  acquaintance  with  him 
began,  he  had  never  climbed  any  of  the  eleva- 
tions west  of  Long's  Peak.  Lamb  keeps  a  charm- 
ing mountain-inn ;  the  house,  which  is  built  of 
logs,  is  very  comfortable,  and  our  advance  guard 
announced  that  they  had  been  served  to  a  re- 
markably good  supper.  All  the  supplies  which 
he  purchases  he  has  to  haul  up  from  the  plains, 
thirty  miles  distant.  In  the  sitting-room  of  the 
house  is  a  very  large  fireplace,  made  of  rough 
stones,  before  which,  while  the  logs  were  crack- 
ling and  blazing,  we  sat  till  late  in  the  evening, 
talking  of  the  mountains ;  and  when  we  did  turn 
in,  I  did  not  go  to  sleep  till  after  twelve,  and  was 
awake  at  three  o'clock. 

Perhaps  the  stories  of  our  host  had  something 
to  do  with  it ;  for  the  elder  Lamb  tells  some 
very  interesting  ones  of  his  many  ascents  of  the 
mountain,  the  most  exciting  of  which,  without 
doubt,  was  that  made  in  company  with  Mr.  Syl- 
vester C.  Dunham,  of  Hartford,  Conn.,  an  account 
of  which  was  published  in  the  magazine  "  Good 
Company,"  April,  1881.  Mr.  Lamb's  account  of 
that  day's  adventure  is  a  thrilling  one,  and  Mr. 
Dunham's  is  equally  so.  When  upon  the  summit 
of  the  peak,  they  were  enshrouded  in  clouds ;  the 


LONG'S  PEAK.  31 

early  morning  had  been  clear,  and  the  distant 
views  grand;  but  a  storm  gathered  on  Mummy 
Mountain,  and  swept  over  the  great  range,  culmi- 
nating as  an  electric  storm  on  Long's  Peak.  In 
Mr.  Dunham's  words,  the  cairn  on  the  summit  — 

"  hissed  and  crackled  like  a  bonfire.  We  had  sought 
it  as  affording  shelter  from  the  approaching  storm,  but 
we  retired  from  its  vicinity  in  a  very  informal  manner. 
The  cloud  had  now  struck  the  base  of  the  horn,  and 
came  boiling  and  rolling  up  the  'Trough.'  Its  ad- 
vance guard  of  hard,  sharp  pellets  of  ice  flew  straight 
up  the  face  of  the  cliff,  and  in  another  minute  we 
were  in  the  midst  of  the  tempest,  —  a  whirling  volley 
of  ice  and  snow,  driven  by  an  icy  blast.  Little  points 
of  white  light  danced  in  the  air  and  beamed  from 
points  of  the  rocks ;  and  muttering  thunder,  of  which 
neither  distance  nor  direction  could  be  determined, 
accompanied  the  storm." 

In  speaking  of  the  electrical  effects,  Mr.  Dun- 
ham further  states : — 

"  My  own  occupation  [of  a  cavern]  was  attended 
by  a  violent  shock,  which  fully  convinced  me  that  my 
head  was  burned  bare  as  a  potato.  Only  by  the  im- 
mediate investigation  and  the  earnest  assurances  of 
my  friends,  was  I  convinced  of  my  delusion.  .  .  . 
After  some  minutes  the  iron-bound  peak  seemed  to 
exhaust  the  energy  of  the  subtle  fluid  wherewith  the 
cloud  was  charged ;  and  although  the  tempest  con- 


32  MOUNTAINEERING   IN    COLOHADO. 

tinued  with  unabated  fury,  we  had  no  longer  to  fear 
the  weird  and  mysterious  element  which  had  sur- 
rounded us.  We  were  still  in  the  midst  of  a  furious 
storm,  but  it  was  no  longer  a  thunder-cloud  in  angry 
combat  with  opposing  forces." 

The  snow-storm  was  so  severe  that  Mr.  Dunham 
and  Mr.  Lamb  had  many  uncomfortable  experi- 
ences before  they  reached  the  ranch  at  night ;  but 
that  with  electrical  phenomena  was,  of  itself,  such 
as  to  make  their  ascent  more  worthy  of  note  than 
any  other  expedition  to  the  peak. 

At  four  o'clock  the  following  morning  we  had 
breakfast,  consisting  of  ham  and  eggs,  coffee  and 
gems  ;  and  at  5.05  o'clock  were  on  our  way  over 
the  trail.  The  sky  was  cloudy,  but  the  peak  was 
clear.  We  rode  up  through  spruce  timber  for 
about  half  an  hour,  and  then  through  pines,  where 
it  was  much  steeper,  and  along  the  banks  of  a  little 
torrent  which  runs  down  to  the  St.  Vrain  Eiver. 
Until  within  a  year  this  route  has  been  the  only 
one  up  the  mountain ;  but  lately  a  trail  has  been 
cut  from  Sprague's  ranch  at  Willow  Park,  which 
joins  Lamb's  trail  at  the  "  Bowlder  Field,"  though 
it  is  little  used.  We  emerged  above  timber-line  at 
6.20  o'clock,  and  here  were  met  by  a  snow-squall. 
However,  the  clouds  were  light,  and  a  brisk  west- 
erly wind  began  to  disperse  them.  As  we  rode 


LONG'S  PEAK.  33 

over  the  pasture-land,  the  sun  almost  broke 
through  the  vapor,  and  our  hopes  of  a  clear  day 
were  considerably  brightened.  The  plains  were 
free  from  haze,  and  all  the  foot-hills  were  sharp 
and  clear. 

I  speak  of  this  part  of  the  trail  as  leading 
through  pastures,  and  it  certainly  is  a  splendid 
grass  country.  Much  more  rain  falls  here  than 
in  the  valleys,  and  the  soil  is  moist  and  rich. 
The  cattle,  however,  never  go  above  the  timber; 
and  as  the  deer,  big-horn,  and  elk  have  forsaken 
this  mountain  for  the  northwestern  peaks,  this 
sweet  feed  seems  to  go  a-begging.  The  average 
altitude  of  timber  growth  on  the  northern  slopes 
of  the  mountains  is  only  a  little  above  11,000 
feet,  while  on  the  southern  side  it  is  as  much  as 
12,000  feet,  especially  where  it  can  follow  the 
water-courses. 

We  reached  the  edge  of  what  is  called  the 
"  Bowlder  Field  "  at  7.30  A.  M.,  and  there  tethered 
the  horses  in  good  grass  and  near  plenty  of  water. 
At  7.45  we  began  the  hard  walk  to  the  "Key- 
hole," —  a  cleft  in  the  wall  of  the  mountain, 
through  which  one  must  pass  in  order  to  climb  the 
high  peak  from  the  west  side,  as  the  east  face  is 
inaccessible.  The  finest  view  of  the  great  cliffs 
of  the  peak  is  obtained  just  before  reaching  the 


34 


MOUNTAINEERING   IN    COLORADO. 


"  Key-hole."  The  face  of  the  centre  of  the  moun- 
tain is  one  nearly  vertical  wall  of  about  2,000 
feet.  There  are  but  few  so-called  "  precipices," 
even  in  Switzerland,  which  prove  to  be  really 
worth  the  name  when  closely  examined ;  but 
these  walls  are  truly  perpendicular  from  a  point 


about  two  hundred  feet  from  the  summit  to  a 
gorge  far  below  the  ridge  which  hides  the  base  of 
the  precipice.  I  shall  refer  to  this  marvellous 
wall  again  when  relating  the  story  of  our  descent. 
At  8.40  A.  M.  we  were  standing  in  the  "  Key- 
hole," having  made  fairly  quick  time,  considering 


LONG'S  PEAK.  35 

the  delays  occasioned  by  my  haviug  a  camera  along. 
Lamb  carried  my  twelve  sensitized  plates  and  our 
lunch,  while  I  carried  the  camera.  I  mounted  it 
on  the  tripod  when  we  left  the  horses,  and  had  no 
serious  trouble  with  it  the  whole  day.  In  fact, 
there  were  but  two  places  on  the  mountain  where, 
while  I  climbed  or  descended,  I  had  to  hand  the 
instrument  up  or  down  to  the  guide.  At  the 
"Key-hole"  one  looks  down  upon  a  grand  am- 
phitheatre, lying  beyond  the  ridge  just  climbed. 
Over  a  deep  gorge  rises  a  mountain  wall  which 
hides  the  distance ;  and  the  vapor  rolling  up  from 
the  depths  was  continually  changing  and  lifting, 
adding  to  the  grandeur  of  the  scene.  No  signs 
of  animal  or  vegetable  life  were  visible.  Several 
lakes  lay  in  the  bottom  of  the  gorge,  or  at  the 
base  of  snow-fields  on  the  opposite  mountain. 

The  difficulties  of  the  ascent  of  Long's  Peak 
are  frequently  exaggerated.  There  is  hardly  a 
place  on  the  mountain  where  the  climber  need 
use  more  than  one  hand  to  help  himself  up. 
About  one  hundred  people  have  been  upon  the 
mountain  annually  for  several  years  past ;  but  this 
large  number  is  made  by  parties,  sometimes  as 
many  as  twenty,  coming  up  from  Longmont  or 
some  town  by  the  foot-hills,  and  all  going  up  at 
once,  —  or  trying  to  go  up,  for  Lamb  says  that 


36  MOUNTAINEERING   IN   COLORADO. 

many  of  them  do  not  get  beyond  the  "  Key-hole." 
Many  claim  to  be  exhausted  and  out  of  breath, 
and  lay  it  to  the  rarity  of  the  air,  but  as  most  of 
these  people  are  not  in  training  for  mountain 
climbing,  this  is  not  surprising :  the  same  persons 
would  probably  fail  in  undertaking  a  similar  walk 
at  a  lower  elevation. 

Immediately  after  leaving  the  "  Key-hole,"  the 
ledge  traversed  is  quite  narrow,  and  if  one  should 
be  very  clumsy  or  careless  and  slip,  a  fall  would 
probably  be  fatal,  —  for  the  rocks  are  placed  at  a 
very  steep  angle,  and  there  is  nothing  to  prevent 
a  slide  of  at  least  a  thousand  feet  to  the  gorge 
below.  Yet  the  narrow  table  which  runs  around 
this  side  of  the  mountain  is,  on  an  average,  about 
six  feet  in  width,  and  there  are  good  footing  and 
flat  surfaces  of  rock  to  step  on;  so  there  is  not  the 
least  danger  unless  one  should  be  dizzy.  There 
have  been  no  accidents  on  this  mountain ;  al- 
though one  death  has  occurred  just  below  the 
"  Key-hole,"  the  result  of  over-exertion  and  utter 
exhaustion. 

From  the  ledges  we  entered  the  "  Trough," 
which  is  a  deep  gully  running  up  between  the 
main  peak  and  a  ridge  of  the  mountain,  on  the 
right.  This  gully  is  quite  steep,  but  free  from 
snow  and  ice,  although  there  is  a  large  field  of 


a 
I 


38  MOUNTAINEERING   IN   COLORADO. 

snow  on  its  side  and  base.  There  is  a  great  deal 
of  loose  rock  and  debris  strewn  through  it,  and  to 
traverse  it  is  a  good  pull,  but  there  is  no  actual 
climbing :  it  is  simply  a  long  walk.  The  moun- 
tain wall  ascending  on  the  right  is  very  smooth 
and  steep,  but  on  the  left  the  argte  of  the  main  peak 
is  broken  up  into  beautiful  ledges,  towers,  and 
minarets ;  and  as  the  rising  vapors  whirled  and 
rushed  over  them,  now  covering  and  then  partly  or 
entirely  exposing  the  cliffs,  the  effect  was  wonderful. 
Prom  the  table-ledges  we  had  been  able  to  look 
down  2,000  feet  upon  the  lakes  and  upon  a  little 
stream  which  is  one  of  the  fountain-heads  of  the 
rushing  Big  Thompson  Eiver  ;  but  from  this  curv- 
ing trough  the  view  was  upon  the  distant  snow- 
ranges. 

We  reached  the  top  of  the  "Trough"  at  10.15. 
Here  the  plains  and  the  mountains  above  Boulder 
Canon  come  into  the  prospect ;  but  the  most  re- 
markable sight  is  the  view  of  some  wonderful 
columnar  cliffs  on  the  southeast  spur  of  the  peak. 
The  upright  shafts,  though  not  detached  from  the 
face  of  the  cliff,  are  cubical  on  their  outer  surface, 
and  seem  to  be  exactly  perpendicular.  The  rocks 
on  the  other  portions  of  this  spur,  which  seem  not 
to  be  so  firm  in  texture  and  not  tipped  to  vertical 
position,  are  more  easily  wrasted  and  worn  away 


LONGS   PEAK. 


39 


by  aerial  forces ;  and  this  probably  explains  the 
formation  of  the  long  jagged  arete,  seen  to  the 
right  of  the  tower  in  the  frontispiece.  This  arete  is 
but  one  of  the  many  broken  ridges  of  the  peak. 

After  a  short  rest  we  climbed  the  roof  of  the 
peak,  and  at  10.50  stood  upon  the  summit,  —  a 
large  flat  surface,  composed  of  slabs  of  granite. 

It   needs  evidently  only 
a    pyramidal    cap    of   a 


View  from  Long's  Peak  Westward. 

thousand  feet,  to  make  it  an  ideal  summit.  All 
was  clear  to  the  east;  we  could  see  the  smoke 
from  the  smelters  of  Denver,  and,  far  beyond,  the 
parched  plains,  —  the  most  extensive  view  I  have 
ever  had  in  that  direction.  The  great  range  of 
Pike's  Peak,  a  hundred  miles  to  the  south  of  us, 
was  so  clear  that  I  could  recognize  three  differ- 


40  MOUNTAINEERING   IN    COLORADO. 

ent  summits  in  the  chain,  that  I  had  ascended. 
Cheyenne  Mountain,  the  eastern  spur  of  Pike's 
Peak,  was  a  landmark  on  the  edge  of  the  plains. 
We  could  see  the  bluffs  east  of  the  town  of  Chey- 
enne, far  in  the  north  ;  and  towards  the  west 
there  were  wonderful  cloud  effects  over  the  great 
ranges. 

Some  snow  and  hail  now  fell  on  the  summit, 
and  we  had  to  be  content  to  await  the  clearing  of 
the  storm,  and  meanwhile  study  the  view  and 
landscape  in  the  east  and  trace  the  course  of 
rivers  on  the  plains.  But  even  when  the  clouds 
were  thickest  in  the  west,  there  would  be  open- 
ings which  would  let  us  look  into  deep  gorges,  or 
show  us  some  peak  in  the  Eabbit  Ear  Range  in  the 
west,  or  the  Medicine  Bow  group,  the  mighty 
range  of  mountains  in  the  northwest.  Our  most 
distant  view  was  far  away  to  the  snow-caps  in 
Wyoming.  I  looked  down  over  one  low  divide 
where  Lamb  pointed  out  trees  growing  on  the 
Pacific  slope.  While  the  west  was  obscured,  we 
spent  some  time  gazing  into  the  crater-like  basin 
on  the  east  peak,  the  sides  of  which  are  smooth 
and  steep,  but  not  as  abrupt  as  the  face  of  the 
peak  we  stood  upon. 

For  a  while  we  thought  we  should  have  no 
clear  views  of  the  western  peaks ;  so  I  set  up 


LONG'S  PEAK.  41 

the  camera  at  the  west  end  of  the  summit,  and 
took  two  pictures  of  the  partly  exposed  ranges, 
to  secure  something  in  the  way  of  a  view  from 
the  top,  even  though  it  should  be  a  cloud  scene  ; 
for  I  feared  the  storm  would  grow  fiercer,  and 
the  mist  envelop  our  peak  for  the  rest  of  the 
day.  But  soon  the  wind  drove  the  covering  from 
the  Front  Range,  and  Middle  Park,  with  Grand 
River  cutting  a  clear  line  through  it,  and  all  the 
snow  mountains  which  encircled  the  high  valley, 
were  plainly  shown  to  our  expectant  eyes.  Then, 
as  we  waited,  the  high  pile  of  cloud,  witli  its 
lower  fold  resting  on  the  range,  was  driven  to  the 
southeast,  and  the  peaks  —  Gray,  Torrey,  and  the 
Mountain  of  the  Holy  Cross  —  gradually  ap- 
peared ;  and  with  the  exception  of  the  great  mass 
of  Mummy  Mountain,  we  had  secured  a  complete 
view  of  all  the  peaks  and  ranges  ever  visible  from 
this  famous  elevation.  A  long  streamer  of  cloud 
stretched  away  from  the  top  of  the  Mummy 
(which  is  the  next  peak  in  height  to  Long's  Peak, 
in  this  district) ;  but  it  held  fast  to  the  summit, 
and  refused  to  reveal  the  crest  of  the  mountain. 
The  Elk,  Rabbit  Ear,  and  Medicine  Bow  ranges 
were  now  clear.  Estes  Park  lay  spread  out  like 
a  quiet  green  pasture,  and  Willow  Canon  made  a 
deep  black  cut  up  through  the  mountains  to  the 


42  MOUNTAINEERING  IN    COLORADO. 

northwest,  towards  the  Medicine  Bow  Range.  A 
long  snow-line  marked  those  mountains. 

We  reluctantly  left  the  top  at  one  o'clock, 
having  remained  there  two  hours.  The  outlook 
facing  us  going  down  the  "  Trough  "  was  grand ; 
the  smooth  surface  of  the  rocks  now  on  our 
right,  and  the  towers  and  broken  ridge  on  our 
left,  made  a  magnificent  frame  through  which  to 
view  the  distant  ranges.  In  this  gully  Lamb 
had  a  fall,  and  for  a  moment  I  was  dazed  at 
seeing  my  much-prized  plates  spinning  in  the 
air;  but  luckily  there  was  nothing  damaged,  as 
I  found,  much  to  my  wonderment,  when  I  un- 
packed at  night. 

The  "  Key-hole  "  was  gained  at  2.10  P.  M. ;  and 
then  we  followed  down  the  "  Bowlder  Field"  un- 
der the  stupendous  precipices  of  the  peak.  On 
this  field,  covering  perhaps  a  hundred  acres,  are 
strewn  great  slabs  of  granite,  —  some  as  much  as 
twenty  feet  in  width  and  thirty  feet  in  length,  — 
and  between  them  are  heaped  bowlders,  great  and 
small.  These  rocks  must  have  been  levelled  by 
the  action  of  frost,  which  split  them  from  the 
once  higher  ridges,  and  left  them  here  in  past 
ages,  in  the  days  when  Long's  Peak  may  have 
had  the  hypothetical  cap  which  I  have  desired 
for  it.  Even  now  this  great  mountain  shows  signs 


43 

of  disintegration ;  the  northern  precipice  is  scarred 
and  worn,  and  seamed  with  enormous  cracks ; 
slabs  are  loosened  from  its  cliffs,  and  hang,  to  all 
appearance,  like  thin  pieces  of  slate  from  its  sides. 
But  all  the  despoiling  of  the  mountain,  upon  this 
face,  is  by  vertical  cleavage  ;  and  there  are  no 
changes  going  on  that  will  destroy  the  absolute 
precipice  which  now  exists.* 

I  have  already  referred  to  precipices  and  so- 
called  precipices.  It  is  probably  true  that  Ameri- 
cans are  more  familiar  with  the  Alps  than  with  the 
Rocky  Mountains ;  for  the  high  valleys  of  Switzer- 
land are  so  easy  of  access,  and  the  distances  are 
so  small,  that  one  can  cross  many  glacier  passes 
and  ascend  important  peaks  with  much  less 
trouble  than  he  can  visit  such  an  out-of-the-way 
place  as  Estes  Park  and  climb  the  mountains 
which  surround  it.  Many  are  undoubtedly  famil- 
iar with  the  view  of  the  Matterhorn  as  seen  from 
Zermatt.  The  east  face  —  the  one  seen  from  Zer- 
matt  —  is  generally  spoken  of  as  a  precipice,  and 
looks  like  one  too  ;  but  Whymper  said  of  it,  in  his 

*  It  seems  to  me  that  the  explanation  of  the  formation  of 
this  cliff  is  not  easily  found  ;  but  I  would  refer  others  who,  like 
myself,  may  have  an  interest  in  the  question  of  the  general 
formation  of  the  range,  to  Clarence  King's  "Report  of  the 
Geological  Exploration  of  the  Fortieth  Parallel,"  article  "Col- 
orado Range,"  Section  I.,  by  Arnold  Hague. 


44  MOUNTAINEERING   IN    COLORADO. 

account  of  his  seventh  attempt  to  climb  the  moun- 
tain, "  that  the  east  face  was  a  gross  imposition ; 
it  looked  not  far  from  perpendicular,  while  its 
angle  was,  in  fact,  scarcely  more  than  40°."  The 
ascent  of  the  Matterhorn  from  Breuil  is  probably 
one  of  the  most  difficult  climbs  that  has  ever  been 
attempted  and  accomplished ;  yet  when  standing 
above  Breuil,  one  can  see  plainly  how  the  moun- 
tain is  broken  up  into  ledges,  and  in  no  place  is 
there  a  vertical  surface  of  more  than  500  feet. 
A  peak  of  peerless  beauty  in  the  Alps  is  the 
Zinal-Kothhorn,  near  Zermatt.  Placed  far  back 
on  the  range,  this  mountain  is  not  at  all  popular, 
and  is  not  even  visible  from  Zermatt,  the  great 
mountaineering  centre.  But  those  who  have 
looked  upon  its  steep  sides  from  a  near  view-point 
would  say  that  they  had  looked  upon  a  precipice, 
and  one  who  has  scaled  its  cliffs  would  certainly 
carry  away  a  vivid  impression  of  the  vertical.  Al- 
though made  up  of  a  series  of  precipitous  ledges, 
the  mountain-side  falls  far  short  of  making 
straight  up  and  down  lines.  The  opposite  side 
of  the  Rothhorn  also  makes  a  grand  rock-slope, 
too  steep  for  snow  to  lie  on,  yet  that  is  also 
placed  at  an  angle  of  about  40°.  But  the  tower 
on  Long's  Peak  exposes  an  unbroken  front  of  1,200 
feet,  as  smooth  as  the  side  of  Bunker  Hill  Monu- 


LONG'S  PEAK.  45 

merit.  Former  estimates  have  credited  the  preci- 
pice with  3,000  feet  of  altitude.  We  should  have 
to  look  to  the  walls  about  the  Yosemite,  to  find 


The  Cliffs  of  Long  from  the  East  Side. 

anything  superior  in  actual  vertical  heights  to 
those  of  the  Front  Range.  I  know  that  our  party 
lingered  long  gazing  at  this  sheer  cliff;  and  only 


46  MOUNTAINEERING  IN   COLORADO. 

the  fact  that  we  were  liable  to  be  benighted  in  the 
forest  forced  us  to  hurry  away. 

We  reached  the  limits  of  the  "  Bowlder  Field  " 
at  3.30  P.  M.,  and  mounting  our  horses  were  at 
Lamb's  at  5.20  o'clock.  But,  sad  to  relate,  as  we 
reached  the  lower  edges  of  timber-line,  we  heard 
thunder  booming  on  Estes  Cone  and  saw  flashes 
of  lightning  on  the  upper  peaks.  The  dashing 
rain  was  immediately  upon  us,  and  we  rode  into 
Lamb's  enclosure  at  a  gallop,  camera  and  sensi- 
tized plates  dancing  on  my  horse's  back  at  great 
risk,  and  all  of  us  drenched  by  the  torrents  which 
were  poured  upon  us. 

II. 

HIGH  up  on  the  northeastern  slopes  of  Long's 
Peak  is  a  lonely  lake  situated  under  the  re- 
markable precipice.  Not  easy  of  access,  I  was 
unable  to  visit  it  in  1887,  but  put  this  trip 
down  in  a  list  of  expeditions  for  1888.  Lamb 
wrote  me  during  the  winter  reminding  me  that 
this  alone  was  worth  another  trip  to  Estes  Park, 
especially  as  no  one,  to  his  knowledge,  had  ever 
been  beyond  the  lake  to  the  base  of  the  perpen- 
dicular cliff. 

For  the   purpose  of  accomplishing  this   long- 


LONG'S  PEAK. 


47 


contemplated   trip,   accompanied   by   my   wife   I 
drove  in  a  blackboard  from  Ferguson's  to  Lamb's 


Lake  on  Long's  Peak,  Lily  Mountain  in  the  Distance. 

early  in  the  morning  of  July  11.  The  valley  in 
which  Lamb's  cabin  is  located  lies  between  Lily 
Mountain  on  the  east  and  Long's  Peak  on  the 


48  MOUNTAINEERING   IN    COLORADO. 

west.  Finding  that  we  had  the  time  for  it,  Car- 
lyle  Lamb  and  I  ascended  Lily  Mountain  in  the 
afternoon.  We  started  for  a  point  midway  be- 
tween the  north  and  south  peaks.  These  peaks 
I  have  already  referred  to,  as  being  called  on  the 
plains  the  "Twin  Sisters."  In  the  ascent  we 
found  a  cold  spring  immediately  under  the  final 
ledges  of  the  south  peak.  Lamb  informs  me  that 
good  springs  burst  out  from  the  ledges  all  along 
the  west  side  of  the  mountains.  It  hardly  seems 
as  if  enough  snow  and  rain  fell  on  the  range  to 
keep  up  the  supply,  but  the  springs  are  ever- 
flowing. 

At  four  o'clock,  two  hours  from  the  ranch,  we 
were  on  the  summit  of  the  north  peak.  The 
clouds  were  high  in  the  west,  and  at  times  ob- 
scured the  sun,  and  their  great  shadows  were  seen 
moving  over  the  wide  plain.  The  view  of  Long's 
Peak  was  very  fine,  for,  on  account  of  our  great 
altitude  (11,453  feet)  and  our  proximity,  we  could 
look  into  the  upper  canons  and  gorges.  The 
tramp  up  Lily  Mountain  well  repaid  me,  for  it 
yielded  good  results  in  photographs  of  the  Front 
Eange  from  a  new  stand-point. 

A  friend  joined  us  at  Lamb's  in  the  evening, 
and  early  in  the  morning,  accompanied  by  Carlyle, 
we  rode  awav,  bound  for  the  marvellous  lake.  We 


LONG'S  PEAK.  49 

followed  the  usual  trail  to  the  peak,  to  a  point 
about  500  feet  above  timber-line,  then  bore 
off  to  the  left,  and,  without  ascending  very  much, 
reached  the  edge  of  the  gorge  which  holds  the 
tarn  to  which  we  were  going.  From  the  brink 
of  this  gorge  several  other  lakes  were  seen  rest- 
ing far  below  us.  Making  the  horses  fast  to  some 
'  big  rocks,  we  "  let  down,"  as  Lamb's  phrase  has 
it,  into  the  gorge.  Descending  as  little  as  possi- 
ble, we  made  for  the  water,  which  was  hidden 
from  view  by  a  great  dike  which  holds  it  in. 
We  reached  our  goal  at  ten  o'clock,  three  hours 
and  a  quarter  from  Lamb's.  We  estimated  the 
size  of  the  lake  at  a  quarter  of  a  mile  long  and 
one  fifth  of  a  mile  wide.  We  skirted  above  it  on 
the  north  side,  and  a  half-hour  was  consumed  in 
going  the  length  of  it.  The  occupation  was 
neither  climbing  nor  walking ;  it  was  a  continual 
jumping  from  slab  to  bowlder.  There  is  no  beach 
by  the  lake,  —  only  a  mass  of  big  rocks  on  the 
north  and  west  sides.  The  dike  on  the  east  is 
solid  and  smooth,  while  on  the  south  side  a  nearly 
vertical  cliff  runs  down  straight  into  the  water  to 
a  great  depth.  Wherever  there  is  a  break  in  this 
cliff,  snow  fills  the  gullies,  hangs  over,  and  is  mir- 
rored in  the  water.  There  is  no  passage-way  along 
that  side.  When  we  saw  it  the  lake  was  free 

4 


50 


MOUNTAINEERING  IN   COLORADO. 


from  ice,  with  the  exception  of  two  small  floating 
masses.  The  elevation  is  11,000  feet. 

We  did  not  stop  long  at  the  lake,  but  continued 
on  and  up  till  we  .  ^!JU)M|I.  , ,  ,,..^— ^^^^^_     reached 

the  base  of 
the  snow- 
field,  only 
the  upper- 
edges  of 
which  are 
visible 
from  any 
point  be- 
1  o  w  or 
from  any 
distant 
m  o  u  n- 
tains  that 
I  had  as- 
c  e  n  d  e  d. 
We  fol- 
lowed the 
winding 
ice -stream 

for  three  quarters  of  an  hour,  and  were  greatly 
surprised  to  find  a  snow-field  whose  whole  length 
it  would  surely  require  an  hour  for  a  fast  walker 


Winding  Snow-field  on  Long's  Peak. 


LONG'S  PEAK.  51 

to  surmount  from  base  to  summit.  In  its  wind- 
ing course  downward,  the  track  of  the  snow-slope 
is  first  directly  south,  then  turns  east.  Curving 
again  sharply  toward  the  north,  a  very  steep  arm 
joins  it  in  the  bend  from  the  south.  Soon  it 
turns  to  the  east,  and  is  joined  by  another  tribu- 
tary from  the  north.  The  end  of  the  trunk  is 
about  two  hundred  feet  above  the  lake.  The 
surface  of  the  snow  was  hard  and  granular,  and 
gave  good  footing,  and  ascending  by  it  was  much 
easier  than  by  the  rocks.  At  the  base  of  the 
precipice  the  barometer  registered  900  feet  above 
the  lake,  making  the  elevation  11,900  feet,  or 
2,371  feet  below  the  summit  of  the  peak.  This 
fact,  together  with  other  observations,  gave  us 
opportunity  to  estimate  the  height  of  the  vertical 
cliff  above  us.  Commencing  300  feet  below  the 
summit,  the  cliff  plunges  straight  down  for  at 
least  1,200  feet,  and  is  only  a  little  removed  from 
vertical  for  the  remaining  distance  of  nearly  900 
feet.  A  stone  thrown  from  the  upper  edge  of  the 
precipice,  if  projected  out  but  a  little,  would 
reach  the  snow  2,000  feet  below,  before  finding 
lodgment.  While  we  were  there,  debris  dislodged 
from  a  point  half-way  up  fell  upon  the  ice  with 
a  crash.  We  did  not  linger  to  investigate. 

At  a  point  on  the  snow  which  we  paced  off  as 


52  MOUNTAINEERING   IN    COLORADO. 

two  hundred  feet  wide,  we  placed  a  number  of 
cairns,  in  line  with  two  larger  stone  men,  —  one 
placed  on  the  lower  or  moraine  side,  and  one  on 
the  ledges  or  upper  side,  —  planning  a  second  visit 
in  order  to  observe  whether  the  ice  moved  at  all 
down  the  mountain.  There  was  hardly  any  slope 
at  this  station.  We  observed  but  one  crevasse,  — 
a  small  one,  about  a  foot  wide,  near  the  precipice. 
Against  the  base  of  the  cliff  and  from  the  sides 
of  the  mountain  the  ice  had  pulled  away,  and  deep 
chasms  and  rifts  were  shown. 

Again,  on  July  28,  we  visited  Lamb's  ranch. 
This  time  Mr.  Benjamin  Ives  Oilman  was  to  be 
my  companion  in  a  second  visit  to  the  lake,  snow- 
field,  and  precipice.  An  evening  spent  before 
Lamb's  big  fireplace  is  always  enjoyable,  and 
that  night  we  discussed  the  probabilities  of  our 
meeting  with  some  mountain  lions  that  had  been 
observed  near  the  trail  the  day  before. 

In  the  morning  we  were  ready  to  start  at  6.40 
o'clock.  Close  examination  of  our  fire-arms  made 
us  shiver.  I  carried  an  old  double-barrelled  shot- 
gun, and  was  provided  with  a  number  of  charges 
of  buckshot;  but  one  trouble  with  the  weapon 
was  that,  after  firing  it,  it  was  necessary  to  use  a 
knife  blade  to  press  back  the  pins  that  discharged 
the  cap.  This  would  necessitate  lively  work  in  a 


LONG'S  PEAK.  53 

close  encounter  with  a  puma,  if  two  shots  did  not 
kill.  Lamb  gave  Mi*.  Gilman  his  little  revolver 
with  only  three  cartridges  in  it,  which  was  all  the 
stock  at  the  ranch.  He  reserved  for  himself  a 
small  jack-knife.  But  notwithstanding  our  weak 
armor  we  turned  off  from  our  route  to  the  lake 
when  a  little  above  timber-line  at  half-past  eight, 
and  scrambled  for  an  hour  among  the  ledges  where 
the  "  lions "  had  been  seen ;  but  careful  search 
failed  to  reveal  them,  and  we  reasoned  that  they 
had  left  the  mountains,  as  there  were  no  fresh 
tracks.  These  beasts  are  very  shy.  Carlyle  said 
that  one  crossed  his  claim  near  the  corral  the 
previous  winter,  but  was  never  seen  again ;  and 
that  he  probably  "  lit  out "  of  the  valley  on  dis- 
covering that  it  was  inhabited  by  man. 

Our  going  out  of  the  way  was  repaid  by  the 
glorious  view  that  we  had  of  the  Front  Eange 
from  the  ledges ;  but  it  required  haste  to  reach 
the  lake  by  noon,  which  we  did,  and  later 
lunched  far  up  under  the  precipice. 

We  then  examined  the  line  of  cairns  which 
were  on  the  snow.  The  end  cairns,  which  had 
been  placed  on  a  level  with  the  snow,  were  now 
six  feet  above  it,  showing  that  the  snow  had  sunk 
that  amount.  Mr.  Gilman  sighted  across  the  line. 
He  looked  amused.  "  How  did  you  get  them  so 


54  MOUNTAINEERING  IN   COLORADO. 

straight  ?  If  you  wanted  to  prove  motion,  why 
did  you  not  place  them  in  a  curve  ?  "  The  fact 
was  settled;  there  was  no  motion  in  that  ice- 
stream,  though  Lamb  and  I  thought  his  remarks 
rather  complimentary  to  the  thoroughness  of  our 
work. 


Section  of  Snow-field  on  Long's  Peak. 

The  great  amount  of  settling  of  the  snow-field 
seemed  strange  to  us,  as  there  appeared  to  be  but 
little  surface  melting ;  but  we  noted  one  fact 
which  explained  it  in  part  at  least.  At  a  point 
where  the  trend  of  the  snow  crosses  the  gorge,  and 
on  the  lower  side,  is  a  lateral  moraine,  the  top  of 
which  is  some  twenty  feet  above  the  ice  at  its 
lowest  mark.  Upon  the  lower  side  of  this  mo- 


LONG'S  PEAK.  55 

raine,  and  about  sixty  feet  below  the  top,  a  torrent 
bursts  out  of  the  rocks,  which  comes  from  under 
the  snow  of  the  opposite  side,  and  has  worked  its 
channel  through  the  debris.  The  stream  was  such 
a  one  as  would  come  from  a  fire-department  hose, 
without  nozzle  and  half  turned  off.  The  water 
spurted  up  about  a  foot. 

This  day  we  spent  more  time  about  the  lake, 
and  lingered  long  on  the  dike  at  its  exit  end. 
Notwithstanding  the  grand  scenery  above  us,  one 
thing  below  received  our  marked  attention,  and 
that  was  a  great  lateral  moraine,  which,  commenc- 
ing but  a  little  way  below  our  position,  ran  for  a 
long  distance  down  into  the  valley,  and  revealed 
what  must  have  been  the  might  of  the  ancient 
glacier  that  carried  the  stones  down  to  form  it. 
Similar  scenes  are  repeated  on  the  peaks  near 
Long's,  and  all  tell  the  same  story.  All  along  the 
Front  Eange  to  the  westward  of  Estes  Park,  snow 
clings  as  beautiful  cornices,  cutting  the  sky-line 
in  the  sierra  notches ;  as  broad  shining  expanses 
it  lies  in  hollows  at  the  head  of  the  deep  canons ; 
in  the  form  of  icebergs  it  floats  in  semi-frozen 
lakes  ;  and  as  bands  or  winding  ice-streams  it  fills 
grooves  on  the  rock  fronts  of  precipitous  peaks. 
The  hot  sun  and  clear  dry  air  of  Colorado  have 
nearly  prevailed  in  the  struggle  against  the  rule 


56  MOUNTAINEERING   IN   COLORADO. 

of  ice,  and  what  perpetual  snows  remain  are  but 
slight  traces  of  the  vast  ice-fields  that  once  cov- 
ered the  country.  The  creaking  of  grounded  ice- 
bergs, the  cracking  of  granulated  snow,  or  the 
rumbling  of  waters  under  the  rocks  are  but  feeble 
mutterings  in  this  nearly  hushed  and  silent  region 
of  cliff  and  bowlder,  compared  with  the  crash  of 
avalanche  and  roar  of  torrents  that  once  must 
have  reverberated  among  the  crags  and  ledges. 

In  many  parts  of  our  continent,  where  rains 
have  come  in  floods  and  all  aerial  forces  have  had 
full  play,  the  tracing  of  past  glacial  action  is  only 
possible  to  the  skilled  and  persevering  geologist. 
In  Colorado,  however,  on  account  of  the  lack  of 
moisture  and  frost,  many  records  of  geological 
interest  remain  essentially  unchanged  by  time, 
and  we  see  uplifted  strata  near  the  mountain  tops, 
banded  structures  of  granite  on  the  mountain 
sides,  and  rnorainal  debris  at  the  mountain  base, 
the  rocks  remaining  much  as  they  were  originally 
reared,  compressed,  or  distributed.  Age  upon  age 
of  geologic  time  has  passed  since  the  ice  crowded 
down  the  whole  length  of  the  gorges,  and  filled 
the  narrow  valleys,  but  the  length  and  magnitude 
of  the  ancient  glaciers  are  attested  by  the  present 
aspect  of  these  valleys;  and  though  the  active 
forces  are  confined  to  the  mountain  tops,  their 


LONG'S  PEAK.  57 

past  work  in  the  lower  country  is  plainly  seen,  — 
more  plainly,  perhaps,  than  in  any  other  locality. 
A  series  of  mighty  rocky  barriers  crosses  the 
canon  beds  at  frequent  intervals,  marking  the  suc- 
cessive stages  of  the  retreat  of  the  ice  up  through 
the  gorges ;  while,  sweeping  away  from  the  base 
of  the  peaks,  are  great  lateral  moraines,  many  hun- 
dred feet  high,  extending  to  a  considerable  dis- 
tance. Such  is  the  huge  moraine  in  Willow 
Park.  Five  hundred  feet  in  height  at  the  base  of 
the  mountains,  it  runs  with  true  tapering  lines  far 
down  into  Estes  Park,  its  limits  being  marked  by 
a  row  of  straggling  bowlders.  The  path  of  the 
ancient  glacier  which  brought  down  the  rocks 
from  the  mountain  tops  to  form  the  ridge,  has 
been  traced  high  up  into  the  range,  showing  that 
it  must  have  been  at  least  ten  miles  long,  with 
tributaries  nearly  as  large. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  Long's  Peak  from  that 
which  we  were  exploring  are  a  number  of  mo- 
raines similar  in  appearance  to  the  one  in  Willow 
Park,  but  this  one  that  we  looked  upon  seemed  to 
surpass  them  all  in  interest  and  in  pictorial  effect. 
It  begins  but  a  little  way  below  the  lake,  and 
sweeps  with  a  beautiful  curve  far  down  into  the 
valley,  looking  like  a  great  artificial  embankment 
reared  by  a  gigantic  race  of  men.  Differing  from 


58 


MOUNTAINEERING  IN   COLORADO. 


the  ledges  of  the  foot-hills,  and  from  the  scarped 
cliffs  of  the  mountain  flanks,  this  ridge  is  made 
up  of  bowlders  and  debris ;  and  though  over- 
grown on  its  lower  portions  with  spruce  and  pine, 
its  origin  is  evident  to  even  those  little  versed  in 
glacial  lore.  Few  scenes  in  nature  can  be  found 
like  this,  where  the  observer  can  so  easily  throw 
himself  back  into 


The  Great  Moraine  east  of  Long's  Peak. 

the  geologic  past.  Far  above  is  the  remnant  of 
the  glacier,  with  its  steep  incline  ;  and  though 
our  investigation  proved  it  lacking  in  motion,  yet 
with  its  fields  of  itdvS  and  tributary  couloirs  it  is 
very  glacial  in  appearance.  Spires  of  rock  and 
splintered  crag  tower  above.  The  wild  amphi- 
theatre of  cliffs  around  has  been  swept  of  debris, 


Across  the  Gorge  to  Escarpment  of  the  East  Peak. 


60  MOUNTAINEERING  IN   COLORADO. 

and  the  place  of  deposit  of  the  torn  fragments 
lies  far  below ;  for  in  the  days  of  old,  rocks  that 
crumbled  fell  upon  the  moving  ice-stream,  which 
in  its  passage  scooped  out  the  lake  bed  and  landed 
its  freight  in  the  valley. 

In  the  distance,  overlooking  a  beautiful  valley, 
and  past  the  wooded  slopes  of  Lily  Mountain, 
one  sees  the  wide  stretch  of  hazy  plain,  in  appear- 
ance like  the  ocean  in  a  calm,  and  can  imagine 
himself  back  in  the  paleozoic  age,  when  the  great 
inland  sea  rolled  to  the  westward  before  the 
mountains  were  uplifted  and  the  waters  retreated 
toward  the  gulf. 

Surely,  in  resting  on  this  dike,  one  dreams  of 
a  past  and  thinks  not  of  the  future.  In  descend- 
ing from  it  this  day  we  followed  down  the  gorge 
farther  than  in  the  previous  trip,  in  order  to  see 
some  very  pretty  falls  that  tumbled  over  the 
ledges.  At  one  point  the  height  of  the  fall  is 
seventy  feet,  while  a  little  farther  down  stream 
is  a  second  fall  of  a  hundred  feet  Standing  be- 
low it  the  view  is  remarkable,  for  the  great  walls 
of  Long's  Peak  are  in  the  background. 

This  records  my  last  expedition  of  importance  on 
Long's  Peak,  and  I  would  not  fail  to  impress  on 
the  mind  of  the  tourist  that  the  scenes  are  too  grand 
for  words  to  convey  a  true  idea  of  their  magnifi- 
cence. Let  him,  then,  not  fail  to  visit  them. 


LONG'S  PEAK.  61 

III. 

INTERESTING  as  the  ascent  of  Long's  Peak  may 
be,  no  one  expedition  by  any  means  exhausts  the 
attractions  of  the  mountain.  Both  upon  its  sides 
and  at  its  base,  removed  from  the  beaten  trails, 
are  forests,  glens,  and  brooks  deserving  of  detailed 
exploration. 

On  July  4  I  set  out  from  Lamb's  ranch,  ac- 
companied by  Carlyle,  in  search  of  the  homes  of 
the  beaver.  We  explored  several  streams  to  the 
south  of  the  ranch  in  vain  for  new  dams  and  oc- 
cupied houses ;  but  equipped  as  we  were  with  a 
camera,  we  found  plenty  of  amusement  in  inves- 
tigating and  photographing  the  ancient  beaver 
works.  On  Rock  Creek,  which  flows  from  the 
snows  of  Long's  Peak,  there  are  many  of  great 
interest.  In  the  meadow  through  which  this 
stream  runs,  an  area  of  many  acres  is  grown  up 
with  willows  and  intersected  with  a  perfect  net- 
work of  old  dams.  The  stream  has  been  turned 
from  its  channel  so  many  times  that  it  zigzags 
in  every  direction.  As  a  rule  the  novice  would 
probably  not  detect  the  fact  that  these  embank- 
ments are  the  work  of  beavers,  for  they  are  all 
turfed  over  and  may  be  a  century  old.  Some  of 
them  cross  the  meadows  like  causeways,  others 


62 


MOUNTAINEERING  IN   COLORADO. 


are  covered  with  tall  rich  grass ;  but  in  one  place 
we  succeeded  in  getting  an  illustration  which 
shows  plainly  the  origin  of  the  artificial  ramparts. 
The  stream  had  broken  through  the  old  dam,  and 
had  left  exposed  to  view  the  manner  of  its  con- 
struction. In  places  the  earth  had  been  washed 
away,  leaving  sticks  projecting  both  parallel  and 


Old  Beaver  Dam. 

at  right  angles  to  the  length  of  the  work.  The 
sticks  and  twigs  were  well  preserved.  At  places 
on  the  side  of  the  embankment  these  sticks  and 
mud  were  solid  as  if  stratified  in  alternate  layers. 
Near  this  broken  dam  we  found  the  skull  of  a 
buffalo. 

The  old  houses  were  very  interesting ;  many  ap- 


LONG'S  PEAK. 


63 


peared  like  heaps  of  branches  and  decayed  wood. 
We  discovered  one,  however,  that  was  much  more 
regular  in  its  form  than  the  new  houses  observed 
in  other  localities.  The  channel  of  the  stream 
had  been 
changed  some 
yards  from 
the  house, 
trees  and 
shrubs  had 
fallen  away, 
and  the  an- 
cient dwell- 
ing, left  on  a 
high  and  dry 
spot,  had  set- 
tled into  a 
regular  conical 
heap.  My 
observations 
in  general  lead 
me  to  think 
that  the  bea- 
vers do  not  intend  to  build  their  houses  so  as  to  be 
conspicuous,  as  often  portrayed,  but  rather  choose 
to  have  them  appear  as  a  mere  heap  of  brush 
which  might  have  collected  in  a  natural  manner. 


Old  Beaver  House. 


64 


MOUNTAINEERING  IN  COLORADO. 


Another  day  Mr.  Hallett,  Mr.  Oilman,  and  I 
were  exploring  the  sources  of  Wind  Eiver,  upon 
the  northern  slopes  of  Long's  Peak.  Within  a 
few  years  Mr.  Sprague.  the  proprietor  of  the  ranch 

in        Willow 
Park,    has 
c  u  t      a 


New  Beaver  Dam. 


trail  to  the  peak,  which  runs  by  the  side  of  this 
little  stream  for  a  few  miles.  At  a  point  where 
it  was  a  little  too  deep  to  ford,  he  laid  down  a 
few  aspen-trees  to  answer  for  a  bridge.  Our 


LONG'S  PEAK.  65 

route  intersected  this  trail,  and  we  made  use  of  it 
for  some  distance;  but  when  we  came  to  the 
banks  of  the  stream,  we  found  its  passage  im- 
possible, for  a  large  deep  pool  lay  immediately 
in  the  place  where  the  trail  led  down  to  the 
brook.  For  a  moment  the  cause  of  the  pool 
was  a  mystery,  but  peering  beyond  we  caught 
a  glimpse  of  the  newly  made  dam,  and  there 
dawned  upon  us  the  explanation  of  the  disap- 
pearance of  the  lightly  built  bridge.  To  save 
labor  the  cunning  beavers  had  made  use  of  the 
cut  aspens,  and  had  worked  the  greater  part  of 
them  into  their  dam.  It  took  us  over  an  hour  to 
cut  an  opening  through  the  woods  at  a  place 
where  we  found  a  suitable  ford  to  cross  the 
stream,  and  thus  flank  the  breastworks  of  the 
obstructionists. 

After  quite  a  long  search  we  discovered  the  re- 
cently built  house,  hidden  among  aspens  and  wil- 
lows in  such  a  wild  spot  that,  without  having  seen 
the  breakwater  in  the  stream  below,  no  one  would 
have  suspected  the  existence  of  the  dwelling. 
Clear  cool  water  flowed  by  its  base.  Mirrored  in 
the  pool  one  would  hardly  know  where  the  trees 
and  tangled  brush  ended.  The  house  was  placed 
on  the  edge  of  the  stream,  and  some  of  the  poles 
forming  it  projected  over  the  water,  so  that  the 

5 


66  MOUNTAINEERING   IN    COLORADO. 

edifice  seemed  to  overhang.  A  well-worn  path 
led  from  a  steep  bank  near  the  log  and  mud  house 
up  through  the  forest.  Large  trees  lately  felled 
lay  around,  and  had  been  completely  stripped  of 
their  bark.  From  the  freshly  cut  twigs  observed, 
it  was  evident  that  the  animals  had  been  at  work 
the  night  previous,  and  only  a  few  hours  before 
our  arrival.  Under  a  tree  we  found  a  number  of 


%"f':.: 


Inhabited  Beaver  House. 

freshly  cut  sticks,  all  of  the  same  length,  —  about 
eighteen  inches,  —  and  of  a  nearly  uniform  diam- 
eter, —  one  and  one-half  inches,  —  which  we  sup- 
posed the  beavers  had  provided  to  use  for  dividing 
the  interior  of  their  house  into  apartments,  or 
more  probably  to  make  an  upper  room.  This 
latter  work  they  accomplish  by  thrusting  one  end 


"  We  three. 


68  MOUNTAINEERING   IN   COLORADO. 

of  the  sticks  into  the  sides  of  the  house  from  the 
inside,  the  other  end  projecting  nearly  to  the 
centre  of  the  interior.  Placed  thus  in  a  circle,  an 
opening  is  left  through  which  the  animal  can 
crawl  and  rest  high  and  dry.  This  upper  story  is 
necessary,  because  the  streams  are  liable  to  rise 
suddenly  and  flood  the  ground  floor. 

Dependent  principally  upon  aspens  and  willows 
for  food,  the  beaver  is  certainly  hard  pressed  now 
to  maintain  his  "  claims  "  in  Estes  Park,  for  the 
pre-empters  are  fast  taking  up  all  the  land  where 
these  trees  thrive.  Higher  up  in  the  canons,  the 
willows  entirely  disappear,  the  aspens  are  scarce, 
and  there  will  soon  be  nothing  for  the  beaver  to 
do  but  to  migrate  beyond  the  range. 

This  day  we  spent  so  much  time  among  the 
beaver  works  that  the  object  of  the  expedition,  an 
intended  trip  to  the  headquarters  of  the  south 
fork  of  the  Thompson,  was  defeated ;  but  a  pro- 
spective hard  tramp  was  replaced  by  an  enjoyable 
scramble  in  the  afternoon  among  ledges  on  the 
slopes  of  Long's  Peak ;  and  this,  with  the  episode 
of  the  beaver  dam  and  the  bagging  of  grouse,  that 
fell  to  our  gun,  made  the  day  one  of  the  most 
delightful  that  I  passed  in  the  Eockies. 


PRECIPICE    ON    MOUNT    HALLETT. 


CHAPTER   III. 

MOUNT   HALLETT. 

AFTER  having  made  the  ascent  of  Long's  Peak 
and  a  number  of  lower  elevations,  I  was 
bent  on  investigating  the  rock  walls  of  the  range 
that  extend  around  to  the  northwest  from  Long's 
Peak  to  Hague's  Peak,  the  eastern  face  of  which 
in  many  places  rivals  the  mural  cliff  of  Long's 
Peak  itself.  As  observed  from  high  points  in  the 
centre  of  Estes  Park,  it  is  evident  that  there  is 
but  one  pass  in  the  chain,  and  that  is  over  Table 
Mountain.  The  rest  of  the  range  is  one  solid 
rampart,  —  at  least  as  far  as  Willow  Canon,  —  and 
impassable  for  pack  mules. 

In  the  northern  Rockies  the  difficulties  to  be 
considered  when  attempting  to  cross  the  chain 
depend  upon  whether  pack-mules  and  horses  can 
be  gotten  over  it  or  not ;  for  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  their  aid  is  absolutely  necessary  for  the 
success  of  any  long  expedition,  as  there  is  no  com- 
fortable hotel,  nor  even  a  log-cabin,  to  be  found  on 
the  western  side  of  the  ridge.  For  hunting  expe- 


70  MOUNTAINEERING   IN   COLORADO. 

ditions  the  beasts  have  to  carry  blankets,  flour, 
coffee  or  tea,  salt,  and  pork ;  no  sugar  or  milk  is 
allowed.  For  such  an  expedition  as  is  to  be  de- 
scribed, a  pack  animal  is  not  generally  required ; 
but  as  I  had  a  camera  and  plates  to  carry,  it  was 
necessary  for  me  to  have  a  horse,  and  to  ride  as 
far  as  possible.  The  ideal  way  to  climb  moun- 
tains is  to  have  nothing  whatever  to  carry,  —  no 
camera,  no  theodolite,  no  rifle,  —  nothing  to  load 
one  down,  except  perhaps  a  cracker  and  a  bottle 
of  cold  tea  to  sustain  one's  self  during  the  walk. 
But  in  all  my  ventures  during  the  summer  of 
1887  I  carried  my  photographic  apparatus  to  the 
highest  ledges.  Therefore  I  always  rode  a  horse 
as  far  above  timber-line  as  a  route  could  be  found 
for  him. 

The  first  difficulty  which  presents  itself  to  the 
mountaineer  in  Colorado  is  a  lack  of  guides  ;  there 
is  much  trouble  about  securing  them  to  accom- 
pany one  even  as  far  as  trails  go  and  as  far  as  a 
horse  can  carry.  The  hunters  object  to  climbing 
or  walking ;  and  although  very  familiar  with  the 
country,  hunting  as  they  do  all  around  the  peaks, 
it  is  rarely  that  they  climb  to  the  mountain  tops. 
One  of  their  number,  a  dweller  in  an  upper  park, 
told  me  that  he  did  not  "  see  anything  in  the  high 
mountains,  and  did  not  know  about  the  scenery." 


MOUNT  HALLETT. 


71 


"  Yes,"  said  a  listener,   "  he  don't  know  about 
anything  but  'bar.'" 

But    our    little    company   at    Ferguson's    was 
well   provided  with   a  leader  in   the    person   of 
a    gentleman    who    has 
a    cottage     near 
this    ranch,    who 
spends      all 
the    summer 
months  in  the 
mountains 
and     knows 
thoroughly 
every   trail 
and  stream  for 
many     miles 
around.     To 
him  I  am  in- 
debted for  all 
that  I  saw  of 
the     Front 
Range,    e  x- 
cepting      in 
my  ascent  of  Long's  Peak  and   of  some   of  the 
lower  elevations. 

The  sharpest  peak  in  the  Front  Range,  as  seen 
from  the   valley    of  the    Big   Thompson   Creek, 


Peak  of  Mount  Hallett. 


72  MOUNTAINEERING  IN   COLORADO. 

which  runs  through  Estes  Park,  is  a  mountain 
near  the  centre  of  the  range,  to  the  left  of  Table 
Mountain.  It  rises  from  the  large  snow-field 
which  hangs  like  a  true  glacier  to  a  steep  ridge 
connecting  the  peak  with  Table  Mountain.  For 
several  weeks  I  had  looked  with  longing  eyes  at 
this  peak  and  its  snow  surroundings,  wishing  to 
climb  it  in  a  single  day  from  Ferguson's  ranch, 
and  to  do  this  in  connection  with  a  ride  over 
Table  Mountain  toward  Middle  Park.  When  our 
acknowledged  leader  proposed  taking  our  little 
company,  consisting  of  a  member  of  the  Appala- 
chian Mountain  Club,  the  surgeon,  and  myself, 
over  the  mill  trail  to  the  continental  divide,  I  had 
no  doubt  that  my  plans  would  succeed. 

The  day  fixed  upon  was  late  in  August.  We 
were  to  have  been  off  at  six  o'clock,  but  it  was 
half  past  six  before  we  left  the  ranch.  We  in- 
tended to  take  a  barometer,  but  our  leader  dropped 
it  on  the  porch  as  we  were  packing,  and  it  fell 
three  thousand  feet.  We  rode  off,  however,  in 
good  spirits,  thinking  ourselves  fortunate  in  get- 
ting started  even  so  early,  for  the  horses  had  to  be 
"  rounded  up  "  for  us  ;  and  Tom,  the  mule,  galloped 
all  over  the  hillside  before  he  was  captured. 

We  rode  down  the  hill  and  crossed  the  Big 
Thompson  Creek,  recrossed  it  to  the  Wind  River 


MOUNT  HALLETT.  73 

Valley,  then  over  the  Wind  River  and  south 
branch  of  the  Thompson,  and  followed  the  latter 
by  a  road  leading  through  sage-brush  until  we 
came  to  a  flat  meadow  and  ranch  at  the  base  of 
the  mountain. 

We  reached  this  ranch  at  about  eight  o'clock, 
then  followed  the  rapid  stream  up  through  tall 
aspens  to  an  old  saw-mill.  The  timber  is  very 
heavy  on  this  mountain,  but  the  mill  did  not  pay 
financially,  as  the  lumber  had  to  be  hauled  so  far 
to  market ;  so  everything  has  been  abandoned  and 
has  gone  to  ruin.  We  were  now  by  the  side  of 
Timber  Creek,  and  in  twenty  minutes  struck  the 
trail  leading  through  tall  spruce,  and  left  all 
sound  of  tinkling  cow-bells  and  lowing  of  cattle 
far  below  us.  The  wood  was  dark,  the  ground 
damp,  and  wonderful  flowers  and  moss  grew  on 
the  trail.  Deep-colored  Painted  Cups,  and  the 
tiny  fragrant  bells  of  the  Linncea  lorealis,  the 
white  Pyrola  cldorantha,  the  curious  Lousewort 
(Pedicularis  racemosa),  and  the  Arnica  alpina 
gleamed  out  of  this  green  darkness.  These  flowers 
were  carefully  transferred  to  boxes,  for  the  inspec- 
tion of  botanists  down  at  Ferguson's,  to  whom  also 
we  carried  several  genuine  alpine  plants,  found 
far  up  toward  the  mountain  tops. 

We  found  a  deep  snow-bank  in  among  the  trees 


74  MOUNTAINEERING  IN   COLORADO. 

a  little  below  timber-line,  which  is  at  about  eleven 
thousand  feet  above  sea-level  on  this,  the  north- 
eastern side  of  the  range.  Here  we  turned  off 
from  the  trail  to  a  ledge  a  few  steps  away,  from 
which  we  had  a  wonderful  view,  through  a  deep 
gorge,  of  the  rocks  belonging  to  the  peak  which 
we  intended  to  scale.  A  thousand  feet  below  us 
was  a  large  lake,  which  appeared  dark  as  night 
and  is  evidently  very  deep,  as  the  sides  run  down 
steep  from  the  edges ;  we  called  it  "  Black  Lake." 
A  little  higher  up  was  another,  from  which  the 
eye  followed  up  the  ravine,  over  bowlder  waste 
and  white  snow  coverings,  to  the  large  snow-field, 
which  looked  still  more  like  a  glacier  than  it  did 
from  the  valley  below.  It  is  evident  from  the 
succession  of  moraines  that  a  mighty  ice-stream 
once  filled  the  entire  length  of  the  canon. 

This  scene,  which  has  been  looked  upon  by  very 
few  persons,  is  certainly  alpine.  Taken  in  con- 
junction with  the  view  of  the  tower  of  Long's 
Peak  rising  in  the  southeast  three  thousand  feet 
above  the  observer  and  exposing  a  grand  slope 
with  a  lake  nestling  at  its  feet,  few  sublimer  sights 
can  be  met  with  in  the  chain  of  the  Rockies.* 
From  the  opposite  side  of  the  gorge,  a  vertical 

*  See  Frontispiece. 


MOUNT  HALLETT.  75 

wall  rises  to  a  height  of  not  less  than  one  thou- 
sand feet ;  the  face  of  it  nearly  perpendicular,  — 
a  marvellous  exhibition  on  a  stupendous  scale  of 
the  geological  phenomenon  of  cleavage.  The  sur- 
face of  the  ridge  that  we  stood  upon  is  broken 
in  masses,  bowlders,  and  blocks, — a  wilderness  of 
debris  unevenly  distributed,  while  upon  the  preci- 
pice there  are  no  signs  of  uneven  demolition  or 
aqueous  erosion.  The  rocks  cleave  off  evenly  in 
straight  up  and  down  planes  along  the  whole 
extent  of  the  face. 

After  leaving  the  timber  the  trail  is  very  in- 
distinct, —  indeed  there  can  hardly  be  said  to  be 
any  trail  at  all,  a  possible  way  for  horses  being 
marked  merely  by  stones  placed  one  upon  another 
at  long  intervals.  These  were  set  there  by  our 
leader  or  some  hunter,  on  a  previous  trip. 

While  among  these  rocks  we  shot  a  ptarmigan. 
The  first  warning  we  received  of  the  proximity 
of  this  bird  was  seeing  the  half-grown  young, 
about'  the  size  of  quail,  running  around  or  taking 
flight  to  a  distance ;  they  were  evidently  able  to( 
take  care  of  themselves.  Then  we  discovered  the 
old  bird  crouching  on  a  rock,  its  wings  spread  out 
so  as  to  lie  as  flat  as  possible,  and  showing  a 
few  white  feathers  on  them.  This  bird  is  heavy, 
though  not  quite  so  large  as  the  grouse,  but  its 


76  MOUNTAINEERING  IN   COLOEADO. 

power  of  flight  is  wonderful.  When  frightened 
it  will  rise  immediately  and  shoot  over  the  top  of 
a  high  peak,  far  away.  This  one  was  only  wait- 
ing for  all  its  young  to  disappear  by  flight  or 
hiding,  before  it  would  fly  towards  the  western 
mountains.  Later  in  the  season  the  ptarmigan 
is  perfectly  white,  approaching  this  condition  grad- 
ually. In  winter  the  feet  are  covered  with  white 
downy  feathers,  while  in  summer  they  are  nearly 
bare.  When  disturbed  in  the  winter  they  fly  to 
the  snow-fields,  where  it  is  almost  impossible  to 
distinguish  their  white  forms. 

An  old  moraine  among  the  rocks  near  where 
we  saw  the  ptarmigan,  was  distinctly  traceable 
for  several  hundred  feet  down  the  mountain,  by 
rounded  stones  piled  in  a  curving  row  about  two 
feet  high,  reminding  one  of  a  stone-wall  in  the 
Berkshire  hills. 

A  little  farther  on  in  the  ascent  we  had  a  great 
surprise.  We  were  keeping  very  quiet  and  were 
on  the  lookout  for  ptarmigan,  when  we  came  upon 
three  Eocky  Mountain  sheep,  quietly  browsing 
only  a  few  hundred  feet  distant  on  our  right. 
Our  leader  told  us  to  duck,  and  said  in  an  under- 
tone to  me,  "  Follow  me  with  your  camera." 
I  did  so,  and  all  of  us  dismounted  and  almost 
crawling  along  soon  saw  the  big-horn  again,  though 


MOUNT   HALLETT.  77 

they  had  not  observed  us.  The  wind  was  "blowing 
a  gale  in  our  faces,  so  they  had  no  scent  of  us. 
Luckily  my  instrument  was  focussed.  I  pointed 
the  lens  at  the  animals  and  exposed  one  plate, 
although  they  were  not  so  near  to  us  as  when  we 
first  saw  them.  They  now  discovered  us,  and 
after  a  glance  in  our  direction  trotted  off  over  the 
slope  to  the  brow  of  the  hill.  It  was  remarkable 
how  easily  they  moved  over  rocks  and  bowlders 
among  which  we  could  hardly  find  a  way  for  our 
horses  and  mule.  Imagine  our  surprise  when 
they  turned  and  walked  a  little  way  towards  us 
again.  I  asked  my  friends  to  return  to  the  packs 
for  more  plates,  and  while  they  were  gone  I 
focussed  more  carefully  on  the  still  distant  ani- 
mals, as  they  stared  at  me,  their  curiosity  over- 
coming their  fear.  My  companions  now  brought 
up  the  relay  of  fresh  plates,  and  retired  behind 
some  ledges  farther  off.  At  this  moment,  as  I 
remained  there  alone  by  the  camera,  the  ram  stood 
up  on  his  hind  legs  and  struck  out  with  his  fore- 
feet as  if  inviting  combat ;  then  the  three  stood 
looking  at  me.  We  were  in  one  of  the  wildest 
spots  on  the  mountains;  a  seemingly  endless 
field  of  ledge  and  bowlder  all  around,  snow  moun- 
tains and  rocky  peaks  only  in  the  panorama ;  all 
signs  of  valley  or  glen,  tree  or  river,  far  below. 


78  MOUNTAINEERING  IN   COLORADO. 

I  had  a  moment  to  reflect  on  what  I  was  behold- 
ing, and  carefully  adjusting  the  glass  again  on 
these  rare  creatures,  closely  watched  them. 

Our  leader  crawled  up  towards  me,  and  as  the 
quarry  showed  signs  of  alarm  I  attempted  to  take 
another  picture ;  but  I  was  now  so  excited  that  I 
took  a  slide  out  of  one  plate-holder  before  putting 
the  cap  on,  and  that  ruined  piece  of  glass  now  lies 
among  the  rocks  to  amuse  the  conies  and  ptarmi- 
gan, while  the  slide  which  I  had  placed  on  the 
camera  was  whirled  far  away  by  the  strong  wind. 
Even  so  experienced  a  hunter  as  my  companion 
lost  his  head  as  the  big-horn  were  trotting  away, 
and  exclaimed,  "  Take  them  quick,  take  them 
quick  ! "  Then,  as  they  stopped  once  more  and 
looked  at  us,  he  called  himself  bad  names,  saying, 
"  I  might  have  known  they  would  stop  again,  and 
that  there  was  no  need  of  haste."  But  lo !  what 
did  these  sheep  do  but  turn  around  and  walk  de- 
liberately toward  us  until  they  were  within  about 
a  hundred  feet !  We  were  fairly  trembling  with 
excitement,  and  I  first  took  off  the  cap  without 
pulling  the  slide.  When  I  made  this  blunder 
they  were  all  facing  us,  standing  on  granite  ped- 
estals a  little  elevated  above  the  general  level,  and 
in  line  with  the  broad  snow-field  on  the  cliffs 
back  of  them,  which  showed  them  in  relief  with 


The  Quarry. 


80  MOUNTAINEERING   IN   COLORADO. 

startling  clearness.  But  the  one  seen  in  the  back- 
ground in  the  illustration  then  turned  ;  the  others 
stepped  down  from  their  bold  positions,  and  the 
best  opportunity  was  lost.  The  next  moment  I 
succeeded  in  capturing  them  as  seen  in  the  pic- 
ture; and  then  the  animals  decided  to  trot  off, 
and  we  saw  them  no  more. 

Hunters  talk  of  the  excitement  which  a  novice 
experiences  when  he  shoots  at  his  first  buck,  but 
I  could  have  shot  those  three  big-horn  without 
being  one  half  so  nervous  as  when  trying  to 
photograph  them. 

Of  the  five  plates  which  I  used  in  trying  to 
capture  the  big-horn  on  glass,  three  proved  worth- 
less besides  the  light-struck  one  already  referred 
to,  and  it  was  indeed  exceptional  good  fortune  that 
I  was  enabled  to  secure  even  one  picture  of  these 
very  shy  animals.  When  one  reflects  that  hunters 
are  obliged  to  use  every  precaution  in  approach- 
ing their  haunts,  and  sometimes  are  obliged  to  lie 
concealed  for  hours,  or  to  crawl  on  the  edge  of 
dizzy  precipices  in  order  to  obtain  a  distant  shot, 
he  will  realize  the  value  of  what  we  saw  and  took 
away  with  us.  I  certainly  wish  the  noble  ram 
and  his  little  company  a  long  and  happy  life 
among  the  wild  crags  of  the  great  Front  Eange ; 
and  may  the  rifleman's  bullet  never  bring  low  the 


MOUNT   HALLETT.  81 

beautiful  pair  of  horns  carried  so  grandly  by  the 
leader  of  the  quarry ! 

This  shy,  beautiful  creature  is  fast  disappearing 
even  from  the  wild  mountain  tops,  and  soon  traces 
of  him  may  be  as  rare  as  of  his  former  pursuer, 
the  Indian,  of  whom  but  one  not  very  lasting 
mark  remains  in  the  valley  of  the  Big  Thompson 
Creek. 

The  photograph  of  the  big-horn  naturally  occupies 
the  place  of  honor  among  a  great  many  pictures 
which  I  took  in  the  Rockies,  most  of  which  were 
secured  from  very  high  elevations.  The  reader 
will  perhaps  pardon  a  little  boasting  when  he 
realizes  that  such  luck  has  probably  never  befallen 
a  mountaineering  photographer  before.  European 
climbers  have  been  photographing  for  years  in  the 
high  Alps,  and  even  in  more  remote  regions,  but 
I  doubt  if  a  chamois  has  ever  sat  for  his  likeness, 
for  it  is  rarely  that  one  is  closely  approached. 
When  I  gaze  at  my  picture  of  the  big-horn  and 
recall  their  appearance  on  the  wild  apex  of  our 
continent,  I  think  of  Tyndall's  description  of  a 
day  on  the  Great  Aletsch  Glacier,  in  which  lie 
tells  of  watching  the  approach  of  a  chamois,  till 
through  his  field  glass  he  "  could  see  the  glistening 
of  its  eyes,"  but  "  soon  it  made  a  final  pause,  as- 
sured itself  of  its  error  [in  approaching  so  near], 
6 


82  MOUNTAINEERING  IN    COLORADO. 

and  flew  with  the  speed  of  the  wind  to  its  refuge 
in  the  mountains."  Even  by  early  travellers,  the 
mountain  sheep  is  described  as  very  shy  and  diffi- 
cult of  approach.  Fremont's  description  of  his 
first  sight  of  this  animal  is  very  interesting :  — 

"  It  was  on  the  12th  of  June,  1843,  that  we  first 
saw  this  remarkable  animal.  We  were  near  the  con- 
fluence of  the  Yellowstone  River  with  the  Missouri, 
when  a  group  of  them,  numbering  twenty-two  in  all, 
came  in  sight.  This  flock  was  composed  of  rams  and 
ewes,  with  only  one  young  one  or  lamb  among  them. 
They  scampered  up  and  down  the  hills,  much  in  the 
manner  of  common  sheep ;  but  notwithstanding  all 
our  anxious  efforts  to  get  within  gun-shot,  we  were 
unable  to  do  so,  and  were  obliged  to  content  ourselves 
with  the  first  sight  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  ram."  * 

Persons  who  are  unfamiliar  with  the  game  in 
the  Rockies,  or  who  have  no  idea  of  the  wild- 
ness  of  the  big-horn,  I  would  refer  to  the  pages 
of  that  very  interesting  book  by  Baillie-Grohman, 
"  Camps  in  the  Rockies,"  or  to  a  paper  by  W.  S. 
Rainsford  in  "  Scribner's  Magazine  "  for  Septem- 
ber, 1887 ;  and  after  reading  either  or  both  of 
these  accounts  of  the  chase  of  the  big-horn,  I 
think  they  will  agree  that  it  was  a  marvel  that 

*  Quadrupeds  of  North  America,  J.  J.  Audubon,  edition  of 
1854,  vol.  ii.  p.  166. 


MOUNT   HALLETT.  83 

such  an  animal  could  ever  be  photographed  among 
the  wild  crags  of  his  native  ranges. 

Very  soon  after  the  adventure  with  the  big-horn 
we  reached  the  top  of  Table  Mountain.  The  out- 
look was  grand  on  all  sides.  We  were  out  of  the 
bowlder  field,  and  could  almost  gallop  our  horses 

in  any  direction  on  the 
pebbly  surface.    We 


View  from  Table  Mountain  Southward. 

rode  to  the  west  end  of  the  mountain,  which  we 
reached  at  one  o'clock,  and  looked  right  down 
upon  the  glacier-furrowed  Middle  Park,  and  upon 
Grand  Lake,  the  large  sheet  of  water  in  it.  This 
side  of  the  mountain  was  broken  up  into  ledges, 
not  very  abrupt  however.  The  distant  lines  of 
snowy  ranges  were  very  sharp  and  clear  in  the 


84  MOUNTAINEERING   IN    COLORADO. 

west,  and  the  mountains  of  the  Front  Eange 
around  us  somehow  seemed  higher  above  us  than 
they  did  from  the  valley  below.  We  rode  back 
towards  the  peak  to  some  water,  where  there  was 
feed  for  the  horses,  and  ate  our  lunch;  but  the 
surgeon  and  I  made  quick  work  of  that,  and  left 
at  quarter  before  two  for  our  new  peak,  the  real 
goal  of  my  eyes.  We  rode  up  the  western  slope, 
which  was  a  very  gradual  ascent,  to  the  highest 
patch  of  grass,  and  were  surprised  to  find  how  far 
up  we  had  been  able  to  ride.  We  then  tethered 
the  animals,  and  at  quarter  past  two  attacked  the 
rocks.  We  could  have  found  a  more  gradual  but 
longer  ascent  by  bearing  around  to  the  right  and 
keeping  more  to  the  southern  side ;  but  for  the 
interest  of  the  ridge,  and  that  we  might  have  the 
snow  and  deep  gorge  in  view,  we  bore  to  the  left, 
up  the  edge,  and  after  a  short  and  rather  easy 
climb  reached  the  summit.  The  peak  looks  quite 
steep,  but  is  deceptive.  It  is  made  up  of  a  heap 
of  rocks,  and  no  ledges  or  precipices  are  upon  any 
side  but  the  north  and  northeast.  We  found  a 
cairn  on  the  summit,  which  was  probably  piled  up 
years  ago  by  some  indefatigable  member  of  the 
Survey  party.  Among  the  many  peaks  climbed  in 
the  West  I  found  but  three  that  I  had  any  reason 
to  believe  had  not  been  ascended  before. 


MOUNT   HALLETT.  85 

We  stayed  on  the  summit  for  half  an  hour,  aiid 
studied  the  landscape.  The  view  is  not  as  ex- 
tended as  from  Long's  Peak,  though  nearly  as  fine. 
The  great  mass  of  Mummy  Mountain,  higher  than 
our  peak,  hid  North  Park  and  much  of  the  Medi- 
cine Bow  Eange  in  the  northwest ;  but  the  view 
of  Middle  Park  was  much  finer  than  from  Long's 
Peak,  as  we  were  right  over  it.  Grand  Lake  lay 
just  below  us.  We  could  trace  the  course  of  the 
river  which  it  feeds,  winding  through  the  deep 
valley  on  its  way  towards  the  great  Colorado 
River  and  the  Pacific  Ocean,  while  on  the  north- 
east we  could  follow  the  mountain  torrents  that 
run  into  the  Platte,  and  find  their  way  to  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  to  be  tossed  about  at  last  in  the 
Atlantic. 

The  area  of  the  summit  was  very  limited,  and 
a  good  view  in  every  direction  was  obtained  from 
any  rock.  Lightning  had  evidently  lately  struck 
on  the  top  of  the  peak,  for  freshly  broken  slabs 
were  strewn  around. 

We  scanned  the  depths  of  the  gorges  below,  and 
all  the  rock-strewn  waste  of  Table  Mountain,  hop- 
ing to  have  one  more  glimpse  of  the  big-horn,  but 
they  had  gone  to  the  more  distant  range.  A 
wilder  scene  than  we  looked  upon,  they  cannot 
find,  nor  better  hiding-places,  nor  a  more  awful 


86       MOUNTAINEERING  IN  COLORADO. 

series  of  cliffs  to  wander  among  than  the  ravines 
of  Mount  Hallett. 

"We  ran  down  the  peak  faster  than  we  went  up, 
keeping  yet  nearer  to  the  precipice  ;  and  when  we 
came  to  the  head  of  the  snow  bank,  we  walked 
out  upon  it,  kicking  in  steps  with  our  heels, 
until  it  ran  off  so  steep  that  it  would  have  been 
dangerous  to  have  ventured  farther  without  ice- 
axe  and  ropes.  There  were  no  actual  crevasses, 
but  the  snow  was  ridged  and  serrated.  The  centre 
of  the  field  seemed  to  be  solid  ice,  and  there  was 
a  miniature  "bergschrund  next  the  upper  rocks  bor- 
dering on  the  ice. 

Time  pressed,  for  we  had  crowded  much  work 
into  one  day  ;  so  we  hurried  on,  and  mounting  our 
horses,  gained  our  friends  near  the  opposite  side 
of  the  snow.  We  had  more  trouble  in  finding  a 
way  down  through  the  bowlders  than  in  going  up, 
but  we  finally  sighted  the  trail  at  timber-line, 
emerged  from  the  woods  into  the  flat  country  at 
eight  o'clock,  and,  with  some  "  throwing  in  of 
steel,"  reached  Ferguson's  at  nine  o'clock. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

TABLE   MOUNTAIN. 

A  YEAR'S  absence  from  the  glorious  Rockies 
only  tended  to  strengthen  my  interest  in 
many  scenes  among  them.  Not  the  least  important 
of  these  was  the  great  snow-field  lying  in  the 
gorge  between  Table  Mountain  and  Mount  Hal- 
lett,  and  referred  to  in  the  chapter  devoted  to  the 
last-named  mountain.  On  July  3,  1883,  I  was 
able  to  visit  it  for  the  purpose  of  making  measure- 
ments to  ascertain  whether  there  might  not  be 
some  appreciable  motion  in  a  body  of  snow  of 
such  magnitude.  This  and  subsequent  expe- 
ditions involved  much  hard  work,  though  of  a 
pleasurable  nature.  The  results  were  far  from 
satisfactory;  they  will  be  presented  here,  however, 
for  what  they  are  worth,  for  the  benefit  of  any 
future  observers  who  may  chance  to  read  this 
book. 

I  had  been  preparing  for  the  trip  for  several 
days,  and  had  sharpened  a  number  of  stakes  to 
drive  into  the  ice,  so  that  on  visiting  the  spot 


88  MOUNTAINEERING   IN    COLORADO. 

again  in  August  it  could  readily  be  determined 
whether  given  masses  of  ice  had  moved  down  the 
slope.  Unable  to  find  any  one  at  Ferguson's  who 
cared  to  undergo  the  fatigue  of  the  ascent,  I  asked 
Carlyle  Lamb  to  join  me.  He  kindly  consented, 
and  not  only  proved  exceedingly  obliging  and 
helpful,  but  also  a  very  agreeable  companion.  He 
rode  over  to  our  ranch  at  six  o'clock,  and  we 
were  off  at  seven.  Lamb  carried  the  bundle  of 
stakes  and  my  sensitized  plates  on  his  horse, 
leaving  me  only  the  tripod  and  small  traps  to 
bother  with.  He  had  never  been  over  the  trail 
before,  and  I  only  once ;  but  there  was  no  trouble 
in  finding  the  narrow  path  through  the  forest, 
which  we  reached  in  an  hour. 

Twelve  o'clock  found  us  on  the  top  of  Table 
Mountain,*  and  tethering  the  horses  we  shoul- 
dered our  packs  and  descended  the  gorge  to  the 
base  of  the  ice,  a  thousand  feet  below.  We  did 
considerable  exploring  before  selecting  our  route, 
and  then  found  that  we  had  taken  the  hardest  one 
conceivable,  for  we  were  immediately  landed  in  a 
maze  of  tremendous  bowlders,  and  it  took  us  an 
hour  to  reach  the  lower  edge  of  the  snow.  At  one 
point,  when  paying  particular  attention  to  my 

*  Barometric  observations  this  day  gave  the  height  of  the 
nearly  vertical  cliffs  of  Mount  Hallett  as  1,100  feet. 


TABLE   MOUNTAIN.  89 

footing,  a  strong  gust  of  wind  took  off  my  hat, 
carried  it  over  a  high  ridge  and  dropped  it  down 
in  another  canon ;  so  I  was  without  headgear  for 
the  rest  of  the  day. 

The  snow-field  fills  an  amphitheatre,  over  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  in  width  at  the  lower  rirn,  with 
walls  a  thousand  feet  high.  The  general  slope  is 
northeast.  The  position  in  width  is  northwest  to 
southeast.  A  magnificent  terminal  moraine  locks 
in  the  ice,  and  the  meltings  from  the  snow  escape 
under  the  rocks  of  the  moraine  at  least  fifty  feet 
below  the  top.  The  subterranean  waters  roared 
on  all  sides.  Such  a  wilderness  of  bowlders  I  had 
never  been  in  before.  All  the  rocks  composing 
the  moraine  have  come  from  the  cliffs  above, 
which  now  show  but  a  narrow  line  above  the  ice, 
except  on  the  left,  or  Mount  Hallett,  side  ;  this 
mountain  still  contributes  bowlders  and  debris  to 
the  ice  below.  On  the  right  side  a  few  hundred 
feet  of  cliffs  still  remain,  and  enormous  blocks  had 
recently  fallen  on  the  ice.  The  greater  part  of 
the  moraine  was  undoubtedly  formed  when  the 
body  of  the  snow  was  much  greater  than  it  is 
now,  not  in  area,  hut  in  depth ;  yet  I  think  the 
work  of  carrying  down  stones  is  still  going  on. 
At  the  base,  on  the  right  side,  the  field  is  divided, 
and  the  ice  extends  farther  down  than  it  does  in 


90  MOUNTAINEERING  IN   COLORADO. 

the  centre.  From  this  division  a  great  medial 
moraine  begins,  which  rivals  the  terminal  in  size, 
and  extends  a  long  way  down  the  gorge. 

I  selected  the  upper  edge  of  this  medial  mo- 
raine for  my  first  stake,  and  crowding  it  into  the 
dirt,  braced  it  up  with  small  stones.  Lamb  then 
went  out  on  the  ice  and  set  the  stakes  at  intervals, 
in  line  with  a  rock  on  the  Mount  Hallett  side  of 
the  gorge,  I  giving  him  directions  as  to  positions 
with  a  wave  of  the  hand.  Thus  he  placed  eight 
sticks  in  the  ice.  The  opposite  side  was  very 
steep,  and  he  experienced  much  trouble  in  ascend- 
ing it ;  if  the  snow  had  not  been  rough,  he  could 
not  have  accomplished  the  work.  In  the  centre, 
where  stakes  Nos.  3,  4,  and  5  were  set,  it  was 
slippery,  and  the  snow  had  been  compressed  into 
solid  ice.  After  the  line  was  completed  I  photo- 
graphed the  range,  the  end  of  the  moraine  with 
stake  No.  1  for  the  foreground,  and  the  opposite 
rock  in  the  centre  of  the  distant  view. 

I  then  went  along  the  line  as  far  as  No.  5,  and 
with  a  hatchet  hammered  the  posts  in  firmly. 
We  measured  the  distance  from  No.  4  to  the 
terminal  moraine,  where  we  made  a  cairn  and 
found  it  162  feet.  Having  some  stakes  left,  we 
placed  one  seventy  feet  higher  up  the  slope  than 
No.  4,  and  two  more  above,  at  distances  apart  of 


TABLE   MOUNTAIN.  91 

thirty-five  feet ;  so  that  the  highest  one  was  in  the 
centre  of  the  ice-field,  and  302  feet  above  the  mo- 
raine. In  order  to  place  these  stakes  we  were 
obliged  to  chop  holes  in  the  ice,  fill  in  around  the 
stakes  and  stamp  around  them,  as  if  setting  fence- 
posts  in  earth.  It  took  us  two  hours  to  accomplish 
this  task,  and  it  was  three  o'clock  before  we  were 
ready  to  climb  up  the  ledges.  Several  routes 
being  open  to  our  inspection,  a  much  easier  one 
was  found  than  we  had  used  in  the  descent. 

Again  on  Monday,  July  16,  I  went  up  a  little 
above  timber-line  on  Table  Mountain.  From  a 
ledge  that  I  reached  I  observed  that  the  extent  of 
the  glare  ice  in  the  centre  of  the  snow-field  had 
increased.  The  weather  had  been  very  warm,  and 
had  evidently  consolidated  much  of  the  snow. 

On  July  25,  with  Mr.  Oilman  I  started  for  a 
third  visit  to  Table  Mountain,  to  look  after  the 
set  stakes.  We  carried  with  us  two  ropes,  re- 
spectively twenty-three  and  thirty-two  feet  long,- 
for  the  purpose  of  measurement.  Leaving  Fergu- 
son's at  six  o'clock  A.  M.,  we  made  rapid  progress,' 
till  when  near  the  summit.  Here,  owing  to  my 
bad  guiding,  we  took  a  course  too  low  down  on 
the  north  slopes  of  the  mountain.  Among  some 
rough  bowlders  one  of  the  horses  fell  and  delayed 
us  for  half  an  hour.  The  animal's  legs  were 


92  MOUNTAINEERING   IN   COLORADO. 

caught  in  such  a  manner  that  he  seemed  only 
able  to  flounder.  We  endeavored  to  get  him  out 
with  the  aid  of  the  ropes,  but  all  help  seemed  to 
make  matters  worse,  and  we  gave  it  up.  We 
were  a  pair  of  sad  and  helpless  mortals.  We 
were  already  talking  of  killing  him  to  prevent  a 
lingering  death,  when  the  beast  managed  to  ex- 
tricate himself,  and,  though  badly  cut,  as  soon  as 
we  led  him  to  a  grassy  spot  he  began  to  browse  in 
company  with  his  mate. 

An  hour  after  this  adventure  we  were  on  the 
snow.  All  of  the  stakes  were  found  down,  and 
all  my  labor  had  been  expended  for  naught,  at 
least  so  far  as  reliable  evidence  goes.  One  fact, 
however,  is  perhaps  worth  recording.  Stake  No. 
4  was  twenty-four  feet  below  the  line.  One  of 
the  stakes  originally  put  above  it  had  moved 
thirty-two  feet,  another  twenty-eight  feet,  which 
would  give  an  average  of  twenty-eight  feet  motion 
in  twenty-two  days,  or  1^-  feet  per  day.*  These 
three  stakes  were  lying  in  little  depressions,  such 

*  Such  great  motion  in  so  small  an  ice-field  (amounting  to 
its  total  length  in  three  years)  seems  improbable.  However, 
this  series  of  stakes  was  placed  in  the  centre  of  the  expanse, 
and  at  a  point  where  the  flow  of  ice  from  the  south,  the  west, 
and  the  east  seemed  to  join,  the  figures  may  be  approximately 
correct.  As  the  weather  had  been  very  warm  the  condition  of 
the  snow  may  have  been  such  as  would  be  requisite  for  the 
maximum  of  motion. 


TABLE  MOUNTAIN.  93 

as  might  have  resulted  from  our  chopping  on  the 
surface  of  the  snow.  The  fourth  stake  in  the 
series  had  moved  fifty-two  feet,  but  was  lying  on 
a  flat  surface ;  so  this  one  is  left  out  of  the  cal- 
culation. How  much  of  this  motion  was  due  to 
sliding  of  the  sticks  or  to  a  real  flowing  of  ice 
must  remain  for  future  observation  to  determine. 
The  stakes  set  on  the  steeper  portions  of  the  ice 
were  found  on  the  moraine. 

The  surface  extent  of  the  snow-field  was  about 
the  same  as  when  we  first  visited  it,  but  it  had 
sunk  about  six  feet,  —  very  little,  I  think,  by  sur- 
face wasting.  There  was  a  continual  rush  of  water 
under  the  moraine,  but  very  little  water  running 
in  rills  on  the  ice. 

On  regaining  the  horses  I  took  off  my  flannel 
shirt,  cut  off  the  sleeves,  and  bound  them  around 
"  Frank's  "  wounded  legs.  We  had  a  dismal  jour- 
ney home,  being  obliged  to  lead  our  lame  horse  all 
the  way.  But  the  accident  proved  a  great  bless- 
ing to  the  animal.  Exempted  from  all  work  for 
the  balance  of  the  season,  he  passed  the  happiest 
summer  of  his  existence  since  he  was  a  colt.  To 
his  evident  delight  he  could  safely  nibble  around 
close  to  the  ranch  without  fear  of  being  driven 
into  the  corral  to  be  saddled  for  the  use  of  the  un- 
feeling tourist.  In  short,  he  became  a  guest  of  the 


94  MOUNTAINEERING  IN   COLORADO. 

place,  and  boarded  at  the  expense  of  my  friend 
and  myself. 

A  week  or  two  after  this  adventure  Mr.  Ed- 
mands,  Professor  Fay,  Mr.  Oilman,  and  I  walked 
from  Ferguson's  to  the  summit  of  Table  Mountain 
and  back  in  a  day.  Though  the  wind  on  the  top 
was  something  furious,  the  two  first-named  gentle- 


men made  the  ascent  of  Mount  Hallett  in  addi- 
tion. Under  a  sheltering  ledge  my  companion 
and  I  passed  the  intervening  time  watching  cloud 
effects  on  Long's  Peak  in  the  distance,  or  in  look- 
ing down  to  the  scene  of  our  labor  on  the  snow 
below.  The  appearance  of  the  ice  was  about  the 
same  as  when  last  visited.  A  few  more  crevasses 
had  opened  high  up  on  the  northwest  side.  It 


TABLE   MOUNTAIN.  95 

was  interesting  to  compare  this  snow-field  with 
others  we  had  explored.  It  ranks  third  in  size  of 
those  in  the  locality. 

From  what  facts  I  have  been  able  to  glean  from 
old  residents  in  the  valleys,  the  seasons  of  1886, 
1887,  and  1888  seem  to  mark  the  period  of  mini- 
mum snow-fall  I  am  able  to  prove  from  photo- 
graphs that  there  was  less  snow  on  the  mountains 
in  1888  than  in  1887.  It  would  appear  that 
much  of  the  ice  forming  such  large  bodies  as  the 
mass  in  Table  Mountain  gorge  must  be  quite 
old,  as  from  reports  there  has  not  been  snow-fall 
enough  of  late  to  make  such  an  accumulation.  I 
was  at  a  loss  to  account  for  the  great  extent  of 
this  particular  snow-field,  till  Mr.  Hallett  gave 
me  a  clew  gained  from  his  winter's  residence  in 
the  mountains.  It  seems  that  Table  Mountain, 
being  flat-topped  and  having  an  immense  area,  is 
swept  by  the  wind-storms  of  winter,  and  when 
other  peaks  are  covered  with  snow,  it  is  almost 
entirely  bare.  The  snow  is  blown  into  the  gorge, 
and  there  accumulates.  While  not  nearly  so  pic- 
turesque as  the  winding  glacier-like  snows  of 
Long's  Peak,  it  is  more  interesting,  as  there 
must  be  three  times  as  much  ice  in  the  gorge. 
The  explanation  of  its  size  cannot  be  extended 
to  account  for  that  of  the  Hallett  glacier,  as  there 


96  MOUNTAINEERING   IN   COLORADO. 

is  no  such  flat-top  mountain  near  by  to  feed  it 
with  snow ;  and  to  explain  the  size  of  this  ice- 
field we  must  take  into  consideration  its  greater 
altitude,  and  perhaps  allow  a  larger  amount  of 
precipitation  of  snow.  It  is  undoubtedly  true 
'that  there  is  more  rain-fall  on  the  Mummy  Eange 
and  in  Willow  Canon  than  there  is  on  Table 
Mountain. 

In  descending  Table  Mountain  this  day,  we 
followed  the  edge  of  the  gorge  nearly  down  to 
timber-line.  The  ledges  overhanging  the  gorge 
on  the  Table  Mountain  side,  not  far  from  the 
summit,  are  truly  grand,  and  recall  the  words  of 
Burroughs :  "  There  is  a  fascination  about  ledges. 
Time,  old  as  the  hills  and  older,  looks  out  of  their 
scarred  and  weather-worn  faces.  The  woods  are 
of  to-day,  but  the  ledges,  in  comparison,  are  of 
eternity." 

'Lower  down  the  rocks  are  firmer,  and  resemble 
the  cliffs  on  the  Mount  Halle tt  side.  Yet  instead 
of  presenting  a  smooth  front,  short  canons  run 
into  the  sides  of  the  mountain.  Very  steep  are 
the  beds  of  these  gorges,  and  little  sheets  of  water 
lie  far  below.  Everything  here  is  on  a  grand 
scale,  and  it  was  with  reluctance  that  we  turned 
our  backs,  on  Table  Mountain,  perhaps  for  the 
last  time. 


CHAPTER   V. 

MUMMY  MOUNTAIN. 

THE  Mummy  is  an  immense  mountain  in 
northern  Colorado,  lying  directly  north  of 
Long's  Peak  and  in  line  with  the  centre  of  Estes 
Park.  It  is  a  spur  range  running  out  to  the  east- 
ward from  a  point  where  the  Front  Range,  Rabbit 
Ear,  and  Medicine  Bow  Mountains  nearly  meet. 
It  has  its  name  from  its  fancied  resemblance  to  an 
Egyptian  mummy  reclining  at  full  length,  and  the 
range  has  been  so  called  for  some  years.  The 
highest  point,  Hague's  Peak  (13,832  feet,  King), 
forms  the  head,  and  a  height  about  two  miles 
farther  to  the  west  marks  the  knees  of  the 
seeming  prostrate  figure. 

On  the  north  side  of  this  west  peak  of  Mummy 
Mountain  is  a  large  snow-field,  of  unusual  interest 
on  account  of  recent  developments  regarding  its 
true  character.  It  was  discovered  only  a  few 
years  ago  by  a  hunter  named  Israel  Rowe,  and 
in  the  following  manner :  It  was  in  the  time  of 
the  great  grasshopper  raid,  when  these  insects 
7 


98  MOUNTAINEERING  IN   COLORADO. 

flew  over  the  range  from  Utah  to  Colorado  ;  myr- 
iads of  them  fell  on  the  snow-fields  in  their  pas- 
sage, and  many  bears  went  up  from  the  rocks  to 
feed  upon  them.  Hunters  learning  of  this  went 
up  also  to  shoot  the  bears ;  and  in  such  an  expedi- 
tion Eowe  discovered  what  he  called  "  the  largest 
snow-field  in  the  Eockies."  Later  he  took  two 
other  hunters  to  see  it.  He  afterward  died  while 
on  a  long  hunt,  but  before  his  death  mentioned 
this  interesting  discovery  to  the  leader  of  our 
numerous  expeditions  in  and  about  Estes  Park. 
Four  years  ago  Mr.  Hallett  visited  it  entirely 
alone,  and  nearly  lost  his  life  under  circumstances 
which  led  him  to  wonder  whether  this  snow-field 
might  not  be  a  glacier. 

I  had  seen  many  snow-fields  in  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  but  none  where  the  body  and  weight 
of  the  snow  were  sufficient  to  form  a  true  glacier ; 
therefore,  hearing  Mr.  Hallett's  story,  I  was  very 
anxious  to  have  an  opportunity  to  ascend  the 
Mummy,  and,  relying  on  my  knowledge  gained 
in  Alpine  climbs,  determine  the  nature  of  this 
one,  —  a  desire  which  happily  I  was  able  to  real- 
ize. At  the  time  of  my  visit  the  great  snow-field 
had  probably  never  been  seen  by  other  than  the 
persons  above  referred  to,  not  only  because  so 
little  had  been  said  about  it,  but  also  on  account 


MUMMY  MOUNTAIN.  99 

of  the  distance  and  the  difficulty  of  reaching  it. 
The  expedition  requires  parts  of  three  days,  and 
few  travellers  have  the  facilities  for  carrying  pro- 
visions and  blankets  so  far.  Our  leader,  however, 
seeing  that  our  ambition  was  unflagging,  offered 
to  show  the  possible  glacier  to  another  member 
of  the  Appalachian  Mountain  Club  and  myself; 
and  so,  on  Monday,  August  1,  a  folding  mattress, 
blankets,  provisions,  axe,  and  coffee-pot  —  in  short, 
a  complete  camping-outfit  —  were  packed  on  Tom, 
the  mule,  and  mounting  our  horses  at  1  P.  M.,  and 
leading  Tom  behind  us,  we  rode  away  from  Fer- 
guson's Kanch  toward  the  Black  Canon.  I  car- 
ried, strapped  to  the  back  of  my  saddle,  a  camera 
and  tripod,  and  a  package  of  sensitized  dry  plates. 
It  had  been  my  intention  to  take  some  stakes  also, 
and  to  run  a  line  of  them  across  the  snow-field  for 
future  observation,  but  I  found  that  it  was  all  that 
I  could  possibly  do  to  carry  my  photographic  ap- 
paratus to  that  altitude. 

Our  trail  led  up  through  the  canon,  under  enor- 
mous cliffs  on  the  right,  than  which  there  are  few 
finer,  though  on  the  left  or  south  side  the  steep 
walls  are  lacking.  Above  the  canon  the  trail 
winds  to  the  left,  high  above  the  brook,  and  runs 
between  two  mountains  thickly  clad  with  spruce. 
It  is  identical  with  the  one  leading  to  Lawn  Lake. 


100  MOUNTAINEERING  IN   COLORADO. 

From  there  on,  however,  there  is  no  trail,  and 
even  to  this  point  there  was  no  sign  of  the  path's 
having  been  traversed  for  a  year.  Our  leader 
showed  great  skill  in  guiding  us  among  bowlders 
and  through  tangled  dwarf  spruce  over  the  ridge 
of  Mummy  Mountain  to  a  good  camping-place. 

In  crossing  the  ridge  east  of  the  Mummy's  head, 
we  had  gone  far  above  timber-line,  but  now  had 
dropped  down  several  hundred  feet  into  the  black 
spruce  on  the  north  side,  in  order  to  get  firewood. 
This  dwarf  evergreen  is  very  peculiar.  The  trees 
are  not  more  than  shoulder  high,  but  the  trunks, 
in  many  cases,  are  a  foot  or  two  in  thickness.  We 
found  plenty  of  dead  wood  for  our  fire,  and  after 
unloading  we  picketed  our  animals  in  good  feed 
and  had  our  supper.  This  was  chiefly  from  cold 
supplies,  for  we  cooked  nothing  on  the  trip  except 
coffee  and  toast.  The  altitude  of  our  camp  was 
about  eleven  thousand  feet.  The  full  moon  shone 
brightly,  and  the  night  was  very  clear.  We 
could  see  very  easily  the  star  e  Lyrse  as  double, 
much  plainer  indeed  than  I  ever  saw  it  as  such  at 
sea-level.  Our  big  blazing  fire  must  have  been 
seen  from  the  plains  far  away.  As  a  general  rule 
hunters  in  the  West  do  not  make  large  fires,  con- 
tradicting in  this  respect  the  Indian  saying  that 
"  white  man  make  heap  big  fire,  git  way  off; 


MUMMY   MOUNTAIN.  101 

Injun  make  little  bit  fire,  stay  close  by."  The 
hunters  do  not  sleep  by  a  fire,  but  depend  upon 
blankets  and  canvas  covers  for  warmth. 

We  turned  in  early,  slept  well,  and  were  up 
before  the  sun,  that  we  might  see  it  rise  out  of 
the  plains.  And  such  a  sunrise  as  we  beheld  ! 
The  flat  country  of  Larimer  County  is  covered 
with  artificial  lakes;  and  as  the  sun  came  up  we 
counted  thirty-five  small  sheets  of  water  glisten- 
ing in  its  bright  rays.  The  sky  was  clear,  except 
high  in  the  east  where  a  mass  of  clouds  was  gor- 
geously colored.  First  picketing  our  animals  in 
a  new  place,  we  then  had  our  own  breakfast.  We 
had  aimed  to  make  an  early  start,  but  with  all  our 
expeditiousness  we  did  not  get  our  animals  saddled 
and  under  us  until  seven  o'clock. 

We  had  considerable  difficulty  in  getting 
through  the  dwarf  spruce,  which  was  very  thick. 
The  heavy  snows  of  winter  bow  down  the  tops, 
leaving  them  one  mass  of  tangled  branches  and 
twigs,  while  under  the  trees  the  footing  for  the 
horses  is  very  rough.  However,  in  half  an  hour 
we  were  out  of  the  small  timber,  and  riding  over 
a  smooth  grassy  surface  by  the  side  of  a  deep 
gorge  on  our  right,  which  was  surmounted  by 
steep  cliffs  and  a  large  snow-field.  The  gorge  was 
a  wild,  desolate  scene,  it  being  the  former  pathway 


102  MOUNTAINEERING   IN    COLORADO. 

of  a  glacier ;  down  through  it  rocks  were  piled 
upon  rocks  for  miles. 

We  reached  the  limits  of  the  grass  patches  at 
nine  o'clock,  and  could  ride  no  farther.  Leaving 
the  horses,  we  walked  up  the  rather  steep  ascent, 


Ancient  Bed  of  Hallett  Glacier. 

arriving  at  the  foot  of  the  snow-field  in  an  hour. 
We  had  seen  the  upper  snows  for  two  hours,  but 
had  no  view  of  the  whole,  mass  until  we  were  right 
upon  it ;  for  an  immense  rocky  ridge  heaped  high 
around  the  base  hides  three  quarters  of  the  snow- 
field  until  it  is  surmounted.  All  at  once  this 
scene  burst  upon  us.  A  steep  snow-bank  ex- 
tended about  a  thousand  feet  above  to  the  top  of 


MUMMY   MOUNTAIN.  103 

the  mountain.  The  water  which  had  collected  at 
its  base  had  been  frozen  again,  —  not  solidly,  but 
with  occasional  open  spaces  in  which  large  blocks 
of  ice  were  floating  around.  As  the  force  of  the 
wind  moved  them,  they  were  lifted  up  by  rocks 
or  firmer  ice  from  beneath,  creaking  and  groaning  ; 
then  broken  up  into  fragments,  but  only  to  form 
new  floes.  The  long  line  of  the  lower  edge  of  the 
ice  and  snow  curled  over  in  beautiful  combings 
as  it  hung  over  the  open  water. 

The  snow  expanse  is  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
in  width,  and  entirely  fills  a  kind  of  amphitheatre 
made  by  the  main  range  of  the  Mummy  and  a 
spur  which  extends  around  to  the  northeast.  In 
some  places  it  makes  the  sky-line,  but  for  the 
most  part  pointed  rocks  and  towers  jut  up  from 
the  snow.  One  shaft,  which  we  judged  twenty 
feet  in  height,  could  not  have  been  more  than 
twelve  inches  in  diameter  at  the  base,  and  was 
of  pure  white  quartz.  The  more  easily  decom- 
posed granite  had  fallen  away,  leaving  this  firmer 
vein  of  rock  standing  alone.  The  whole  extent 
of  the  snow  was  covered  with  grooves,  markings, 
and  cracks  ;  a  large  crevasse  began  near  the  south 
end  and  extended  a  long  way  into  the  centre,  and 
close  examination  revealed  many  more  above  and 
below  it,  running  parallel  with  it.  The  longest 


104 


MOUNTAINEERING   IN   COLORADO. 


of  these  was  about  a  hundred  feet  above  the  water 
at  the  southern  extremity.  Our  leader  said  that 
when  he  visited  the  place  four  years  before  there 
were  larger  icebergs  iu  the  water.  It  is  evident 
how  these  were  formed  ;  for  when  the  large  cre- 
vasses, near  the  water,  are  crowded  toward  the 
lake,  the  masses  of  ice  must  fall  off  into  it,  repeat- 


Ledges  above  the  Hallett  Glacier. 

ing  on  a  small  scale  what  happens  when  the  ice- 
masses  fall  from  the  Humboldt  Glacier  into  the 
Arctic  Ocean. 

A  single  glance  at  the  series  of  crevasses  was 
enough  to  convince  me  that  we  looked  upon  a 
glacier,  and  further  examination  of  the  ice  con- 
firmed the  first  impression.  The  great  ridge  upon 


MUMMY   MOUNTAIN.  105 

which  we  stood  was  evidently  a  terminal  moraine 
formed  by  the  glacier  in  past  ages.  What  debris 
comes  down  with  the  ice  at  the  present  time  must 
fall  into  the  lake.  The  surface  of  the  glacier, 
however,  is  remarkably  free  from  stones  and 
bowlders,  caused,  as  we  afterward  determined,  by 
the  fact  that  the  loosened  masses  above  the  ice 
fall  to  the  west  down  the  much  steeper  rock-fall 
of  the  mountain ;  yet  at  one  point  the  ledges  are 
breaking  away  toward  the  glacier,  and  a  few 
bowlders  are  already  embedded  in  the  ice  and  are 
on  their  way  down  the  slide. 

Having  taken  two  pictures  of  the  glacier  and 
lake  from  the  moraine,  accompanied  by  our  leader, 
I  carried  the  camera  back  from  the  ice  and  took  a 
more  distant  view ;  meanwhile  the  Appalachian 
had  strolled  along  to  the  south  end  to  look  at  the 
big  crevasse.  It  seemed  desirable  to  secure  three 
negatives  of  this  section  of  the  ice  ;  but  as  we  had 
only  one  sensitized  plate  with  us,  I  started  back 
to  the  foot  of  the  glacier,  where  we  had  left  the 
lunch  and  other  luggage,  for  another  plate-holder 
containing  two  plates.  And  now  an  episode  oc- 
curred which  for  the  time  being  quite  eclipsed 
the  pleasurable  excitement  of  our  discovery  with 
one  of  a  more  thrilling,  if  less  agreeable  sort.  I 
had  gone  about  half-way  when  my  companion 


106 


MOUNTAINEERING  IN   COLORADO. 


called  out,  "A  bear!  a  bear!  come  here  quick!" 
I  turned,  ran  back,  and  saw  an  immense  range 
grizzly  standing  on  a  rock  about  two  hundred 
feet  from  us;  he  had  just  come  out  from  behind 
a  huge  bowlder.  I  took  his  picture  as  quickly 
as  possible.  This  was  probably  the  first  time 
that  "  old  Ephraim "  had  ever  had  his  picture 

taken  in  his  own 
haunts;  and  if  he 
could  only  have 
known  what  was 
required  of  him, 
he  might  just  as 
well  have  sat  for 
it.  I  then  saw 
the  Appalachian, 

standing  very  near  to  the  bear,  but  back  of  him, 
looking  at  him  through  his  field-glass  as  coolly  as 
could  be.  The  bear  was  of  tremendous  size,  and 
must  have  weighed  a  thousand  pounds.  His  color 
was  for  the  most  part  brown,  but  his  back  and 
the  top  of  his  head  appeared  nearly  white.  He 
was  of  the  species  called  by  the  hunters  "  silver- 
tipped  grizzly;"  and  as  the  sun  was  shining  very 
brightly  directly  upon  his  back,  the  reflection  was 
such  as  to  give  it  a  silvery-white  appearance.  He 
was  evidently  trying  to  make  up  his  mind  whether 


MUMMY  MOUNTAIN.  107 

to  come  down  to  us  and  take  his  lunch,  or  betake 
himself  off  up  the  mountain,  —  or,  as  the  local 
phrase  has  it,  "  pull  his  freight."  I  had  not 
thought  of  the  bear's  attacking  us,  though  I  had 
wondered  at  the  Appalachian's  coolness,  but  now 
the  beast  was  growling  and  snapping.  Suddenly 
my  companion  suggested,  "Suppose  he  should  de- 
cide to  come  and  take  us."  Then  I  proposed  that 
I  go  for  the  other  plates,  and  that  he  get  his  shot- 
gun, our  only  weapon,  at  the  same  time,  and  load 
it  with  buckshot.  "  That  would  not  be  of  much 
use,"  he  answered ;  "  but  we  can  do  one  thing. 
Here,  take  this  knife ! "  and  he  drew  a  large 
butcher-knife  from  his  belt  and  handed  it  to  me. 
"  If  he  turns  on  us,  I  will  wait  till  his  nose 
touches  the  jnuzzle  of  the  gun  before  I  let  him 
have  it,  and  you  must  do  the  best  you  can  for 
yourself  with  the  knife ;  this  will  be  our  only 
salvation,  but  it  will  take  lots  of  nerve  to  await 
the  proper  moment  to  shoot."  Our  motions  were 
so  lively  that  when  we  got  back  to  our  position 
by  the  camera,  the  bear  had  decided  to  move  off, 
and  was  soon  out  of  sight  behind  a  ridge,  giving 
a  sort  of  snort  as  he  turned  away.  Our  fear  was 
now  that  he  would  run  down  the  mountain  to 
where  the  horses  and  mule  were  tethered  and 
stampede  them.  If  the  animals  should  get  a  sight 


I 

108  MOUNTAINEERING   IN    COLORADO. 

of  the  bear,  they  would  break  their  legs  or  necks 
in  trying  to  escape.  This  catastrophe  must  be 
averted  at  all  hazards,  for  without  the  pack  rnule 
we  could  never  carry  the  camera  and  plates  back 
to  camp  before  nightfall,  and  a  night  at  this  ele- 
vation, without  blankets,  would  be  horrible.  We 
started  at  a  brisk  run  over  the  rocks,  hoping  to 
head  him  off.  But  he  travelled  so  rapidly  that 
before  we  saw  him  again  he  had  covered  a  great 
distance  in  a  circle  around  us,  and  was  about 
three  hundred  feet  below  our  position,  crossing  a 
large  snow-field,  and  luckily  headed  away  from 
the  horses.  He  stopped,  turned,  and  looked  at  us. 
Standing  out  on  the  white  snow-field,  with  steep 
ledges  and  jagged  cliffs  rising  high  in  the  back- 
ground, his  figure  was  certainly  very  picturesque. 
It  was  impossible  to  photograph  him,  as  he  was  so 
far  below  us  ;  so  my  companion  asked,  — 

"  Shall  I  give  him  a  shot  ? " 

"  Pepper  him,"  I  responded. 

"  He  may  turn  on  us." 

"  Pepper  him,"  I  said  again. 

Bang  went  the  gun,  and  the  beast  jumped. 
Bang !  another  charge  of  buckshot  followed,  and 
the  bear  gave  another  leap  forward,  although  the 
effect  of  the  shot  was  probably  no  more  upon  him 
than  the  cut  of  a  whip  would  have  been  if  given 


\ 


,i  * 

l» 


<? 


MUMMY  MOUNTAIN.  109 

near  at  hand.  However,  the  shot  so  accelerated 
his  gait  that  he  probably  reached  Wyoming  in  a 
very  short  time,  for  he  went  up  the  side  of  the 
mountain  on  a  run,  and  was  over  the  top  of  the 
ridge  and  out  of  sight  in  ten  minutes.  I  watched 
him  for  a  moment  on  the  ground  glass  of  the 
camera,  and  his  figure  looked  like  that  of  a  rat 
running  up  a  wall.  This  quickness  of  motion  in 
a  beast  of  such  bulk  was  marvellous ;  for  later  in 
the  day  it  took  us  over  an  hour  to  gain  an  equal 
height,  climbing  over  similar  rocks.  One  can 
judge  how  utterly  powerless  we  should  have  been 
if  the  conditions  had  been  reversed  and  we  had 
been  chased  by  the  bear. 

The  bear  being  disposed  of,  we  returned  to  the 
glacier  and  roped  ourselves  together  for  an  in- 
vestigation of  the  surface  of  the  ice,  using  a 
forty-foot  lariat  for  the  purpose,  so  that  we  had 
about  twenty  feet  of  rope  between  us.  Then 
we  crossed  the  snow  to  the  big  crevasse.  This 
was  fifteen  feet  wide  in  some  places,  and  twenty 
to  thirty  feet  deep,  and  large  icicles  hung  down 
from  the  upper  edges.  After  securing  photo- 
graphs of  this,  we  went  back  to  the  rocks,  where 
the  Appalachian  threw  off  the  rope  and  sepa- 
rated himself  from  us  to  climb  the  final  peak 
by  the  ledges.  Our  leader  and  I  tied  ourselves 


110  MOUNTAINEERING   IN   COLORADO. 

together  again,  and  began  the  ascent  to  the  ridge 
by  the  glacier. 

In  Switzerland  I  had  been  guided  over  many 
glaciers,  and  on  one  occasion  had  had  the  sensa- 
tion of  dangling  on  the 
edge  of  a  crevasse 
into  which  I  had 


JRjf 

mf    :  /-r 


fallen  ;  but  never  before  had  I  led  in  crossing 
a  large  snow-field,  or  assumed  any  responsibility. 
The  crossing  of  this  glacier  looked  easy  and  sim- 
ple, and  one  not  accustomed  to  ice-work  would 
have  probably  laughed  at  the  idea  of  using  a 
rope;  but  my  experience  told  me  that  the  cre- 
vasse, which  seemed  to  end  abruptly,  probably 
extended  under  the  smooth  snow  for  a  long  dis- 
tance, and  we  might  strike  it  or  some  other  cleft 


MUMMY   MOUNTA1X.  Ill 

in  the  ice  in  any  part  of  the  glacier  that  we  might 
cross.  And  then  there  was  our  leader's  former 
adventure,  to  which  I  have  already  alluded.  He 
was  all  alone,  and  ascending  on  the  north  side, 
trying  to  reach  the  curious  shafts  which  stand  as 
sentinels  over  that  part  of  the  ice.  He  was  get- 
ting along  all  right,  when,  suddenly,  he  broke 
through  the  bridge  of  a  hidden  crevasse.  Luck- 
ily the  ice  was  firm  at  the  rim  on  both  sides,  so 
that  he  held  up  by  his  elbows  and  managed  to 
extricate  himself.  Safely  out,  he  ran  down  the 
mountain,  determined  never  to  venture  on  the 
snow  again  without  help. 

We  had  no  ice-axe.  The  snow  was  in  the  con- 
dition of  nM,  and  very  firm.  I  used  my  camera 
tripod  for  a  feeler,  and  often  could  send  it  down 
deep  in  treacherous  places  ;  but  we  kept  to  a  sort 
of  ardte,  and  by  stamping  foot-holes  made  some 
progress.  It  was  very  slow,  however,  as  every 
step  must  be  made,  and  the  incline  grew  steeper 
as  we  advanced.  If  the  snow  had  been  in  a  more 
icy  condition,  we  could  never  have  reached  the 
ledges  without  an  axe,  and  as  it  was  we  had  to 
make  detours  to  avoid  glare  ice.  From  the  sum- 
mit of  the  arete  we  jumped  over  a  suspicious  bit 
of  ice  to  the  rocks,  and  congratulated  ourselves 
that  we  were  the  first  to  tread  upon  these  upper 


112  MOUNTAINEERING   IN   COLORADO. 

snows.*  The  ledges  we  found  very  narrow  and 
broken  up  into  towers  and  spires.  The  west  side 
of  the  peak  was  an  indescribably  wild  scene,  such 
as  I  had  never  beheld ;  there  were  precipices  and 
gorges,  masses  of  rock  and  bowlders,  smooth  cliffs, 
rough-hewn  towers,  and  below  us  several  thousand 
feet  was  a  gem  of  a  mountain  park,  with  a  silver 
stream  winding  through  it  for  miles  down  to  the 
Poudre.  Encircling  the  whole  were  snow-clad 
mountains  of  the  Eabbit  Ear  and  Medicine  Bow 
Eanges,  and  beyond  was  the  Park  Kange,  filling 
the  western  horizon  with  its  mountains  piled  upon 
mountains.  Part  of  the  wonder  and  delight  of 
the  scene  was  caused  by  the  fact  that  we  were 
looking  upon  an  almost  unknown  land  as  we 
gazed  into  the  west.  The  meadows  at  our  feet, 
walled  in  by  high  mountains,  are  very  difficult  to 
get  into  with  pack  animals ;  hence  over  and 
among  the  far  mountains  there  is  not  a  settlement 
until  Utah  is  reached. 

Unlike  some  of  the  difficult  Swiss  peaks,  there 

*  After  our  return  to  Estes  Park,  our  party  spoke  of  the 
glacier  as  the  "  Mummy  Glacier  ; "  but  now  I  am  disposed, 
with  Professor  Stone  of  the  College  of  Colorado,  who  visited  it 
later  in  the  season,  to  call  it  "  Hallett  Glacier."  "  Mount 
Hallett "  has  its  name  from  the  same  gentleman,  having  been 
so  christened  by  Dr.  E.  0.  Otis,  of  Boston,  and  the  writer, 
when  on  its  summit  in  July,  1887. 


MUMMY   MOUNTAIN.  113 

is  always  some  easy  way  of  access  to  the  high 
crests  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  ;  but  there  is  hard 
climbing  to  be  found,  if  that  is  sought.  To  any 
mountaineer  in  search  of  such  work,  I  would  sug- 
gest that  he  ascend  the  Mummy  glacier  by  an 
arete,  on  the  north  side  to  the  point  where  the 
shafts  of  rock  are  standing,  then  descend  the 
mountain  to  the  deep  glen  below,  being  careful  to 
take  provisions  for  two  days  from  carnp.  After 
exploring  the  valley  at  its  upper  limit,  let  him 
ascend  the  west  peak  of  the  Mummy  from  that 
side  directly  to  the  summit,  and  I  fancy  he  will 
have  need  of  steadiness  of  head  and  strength  of 
limb. 

We  began  to  make  the  remainder  of  the  climb 
of  the  peak  by  the  broken  ledges,  and  found  our 
way  difficult.  The  rocks,  broken  and  shattered, 
afforded  poor  hold,  and  if  once  they  gave  way, 
went  spinning  to  the  lake  below  with  a  whir  and 
a  crash  that  made  us  realize  what  would  be  the 
result  should  we  fall  from  these  heights.  We  had 
to  help  each  other  with  boosts  and  pulls ;  for 
sometimes  there  were  no  firm  rocks  within  reach, 
as  we  felt  for  them  over  the  edges  of  platforms 
above  us.  It  was  not  easy  to  get  the  gun  and 
camera  up ;  so  finally,  after  passing  the  edge  of 
the  ice,  which  was  too  treacherous  to  venture 

8 


114  MOUNTAINEERING   IN   COLORADO. 

upon  at  this  point,  we  were  forced  to  take  the  face 
of  the  mountain,  by  which  we  had  an  easy  route 
to  the  summit. 

The  rocks  on  the  top  of  the  Mummy  have  an 
entirely  different  appearance  from  those  of  any 
other  summit  in  the  Rocky  Mountains  on  which 
I  have  stood.  On  Pike's  Peak,  Bald  Mountain, 
Long's  Peak,  Table  Mountain,  and  on  many  of  the 
lesser  peaks,  the  slabs  of  granite  are  strewn  around 
or  heaped  up  in  piles,  while  here  there  is  little 
debris,  for  the  rocks  are  arranged  in  laminae  with 
edges  up,  and  present  a  saw-like  appearance ;  the 
mountain  drops  off  on  all  sides,  excepting  the 
ridge  to  the  northwest,  in  noble  ledges  flanked  by 
massive  towers. 

We  were  more  than  an  hour  upon  the  summit ; 
the  atmosphere  was  of  rare  transparency,  and  the 
view  seemed  limitless.  Mountain  ranges  far  into 
Wyoming  were  clearly  seen ;  Pike's  Peak  rose  in 
the  south,  and  peaks  farther  away  to  the  south- 
west ;  but  here,  as  from  the  ledges  below,  the 
chief  joy  was  in  looking  toward  the  sierras  of  the 
west.  This  was  the  only  peak  upon  which  we 
had  not  found  a  cairn,  and  I  doubt  if  it  had  ever 
been  climbed  before. 

As  we  were  ascending  the  glacier  a  Rocky 
Mountain  eagle  swooped  down  over  the  ridge,  but 


MUMMY   MOUNTAIN. 


115 


seeing  us  he  soared  up  over  the  top  of  our  peak, 
and  while  we  were  on  the  summit,  was  circling 
over  us  at  a  great  height,  probably  at  an  elevation 
of  20,000  feet  above  sea-level.  It  would  be  a 
curious  fact  to  learn  at  how  great  an  elevation  a 
bird  of  that  size  and  weight  could  sustain  itself 


by  flight ;  for  notwithstanding  its  lightness  as 
compared  with  its  size,  it  seems  as  if  it  would 
drop  like  a  piece  of  cotton  in  an  exhausted 
tube. 

It  was  four  o'clock  when  we  left  the  summit, 
and  ran  down  the  face  of  the  peak  to  where  we 
had  left  our  traps  and  extra  plates.  Collecting 


116  MOUNTAINEERING   IN   COLORADO. 

these,  we  walked  to  the  north  side  of  the  glacier 
and  climbed  about  half-way  up.  Part  of  the 
south  side  of  the  glacier  is  in  shadow  early  in  the 
afternoon,  and  on  that  account  is  very  smooth 
and  firm,  while  the  north  end  is  exposed  to  the 
sun's  rays  from  early  morning  till  much  later  in 
the  afternoon ;  consequently,  the  heat  has  so 
melted  the  upper  snows  that  the  water  runs  down 
and  causes  the  deep  grooves  seen  in  Plate  VI. 
The  surface  of  all  the  large  ice-fields  about  Estes 
Park  presents  this  grooved,  or  ribbed,  structure.* 
While  we  had  been  examining  the  formation  and 
shape  of  the  curious  ridges  of  snow,  the  sun  had 
been  obscured  by  high  drifting  clouds.  Suddenly 
it  came  out  with  dazzling  brightness,  and  we 
beheld  a  remarkable  shadow  profile  cast  upon  the 

*  Since  writing  the  above,  my  attention  has  been  called  to  a 
description  of  the  surface  of  the  snow  of  the  Mount  Lyell  Glacier, 
in  California,  which  proves  that  running  water  is  not  the  first 
cause  in  forming  the  troughs.  In  the  case  of  the  great  ice-field, 
however,  the  grooves  are  "  in  a  direction  at  right  angles  to  the 
slope."  According  to  Mr.  J.  T.  Gardiner,  formerly  of  the  Geo- 
logical Survey,  "the  transverse  ridges  or  blades  are  produced  by 
the  action  of  sun  on  wind  ripples.  During  the  winter  the  wind 
blows  mainly  down  the  canon,  and  the  loose  snow  is  drifted 
into  wind  ripples ;  during  the  summer,  when  neither  rain  nor 
snow  falls  for  many  months,  the  snow  is  greatly  wasted,  but 
more  in  the  troughs  than  on  the  crests,  on  account  of  the  rever- 
beration of  heat  within  the  troughs."  —  PROF.  JOSEPH  Li:CoNTE, 
American  Journal  of  Science  and  Arts,  1873,  vol.  v.,  3d  series. 


MUMMY   MOUNTAIN.  117 

pure  white  snow  by  the  sculptured  rocks.  At 
first  it  was  a  startling  apparition,  and  we  stood 
there  transfixed  with  awe  as  we  gazed  upon  it, 
shading  our  eyes  with  our  hands.  The  length  of 
the  profile  traced  on  the  snow  by  the  varying 
shadow  was  fully  a  hundred  feet.  The  lines  were 
clearly  defined.  Of  course  it  can  only  be  seen  at 
a  certain  hour  on  sunny  afternoons.  The  day  is 
far  distant  when  throngs  of  tourists  will  stream  up 
the  gorge  to  see  the  largest  ice-field  of  Colorado, 
and  by  that  time  perhaps  the  granite  rocks  will 
have  crumbled  away,  worn  by  rain  and  cracked 
by  frost,  and  the  profile  which  we  saw  will  have 
vanished.  Meanwhile  many  will  doubtless  be 
glad  that  we  succeeded  in  securing  a  photograph 
of  the  strange  and  beautiful  scene. 

It  was  now  five  o'clock.  We  reluctantly  turned 
away  from  the  glacier,  and  scrambling  over  the 
moraine  to  the  large  snow-field  where  the  bear 
had  crossed,  we  glissaded  down  for  several  hun- 
dred feet,  then  took  to  the  rocks,  and  soon  reached 
our  horses  and  mule.  On  the  way  down,  we  shot 
seven  ptarmigans.  We  reached  camp  at  dark  in 
a  very  tired  condition,  but  a  cup  of  strong  coffee 
so  revived  us  that  in  an  hour  we  were  contentedly 
lying  before  the  blaze,  the  thick  hedge  of  spruce 
timber  at  our  backs  keeping  off  the  strong  blasts 


118  MOUNTAINEERING   IN  COLORADO. 

of  wind.  Then  \ve  told  stories  of  bear,  and  stories 
of  elk,  and  stories  of  "  big-horn/'  and  smoked  the 
pipe  of  peace. 

Spruce  firewood  will  always  crack  and  snap  ;  and 
this  night  the  sparks  rose  high,  carried  far  up  by 
the  wild  wind,  and  then  whisked  down  the  deep 
gulch  toward  the  plains.  As  I  lay  there  looking 
at  the  black  line  of  cliffs  surrounding  us,  and  then 
into  the  dancing  flames,  I  thought  of  camp-fires 
long  since  burned  out,  of  blazing  pines  in  dark 
forests,  of  nights  in  deserted  log-cabins  in  the 
West  or  in  the  stone-roofed  chdlet  in  the  far-away 
Alps.  Then  from  the  heights  and  distance  came 
memories  of  moraine,  crevasse,  and  berc/schrund,  of 
expanse  of  snow,  of  bowlder  waste  and  the  wary 
"  big-horn,"  of  spires  of  rock  and  domes  of  ice,  and, 
loosing  my  hold  on  consciousness  in  this  strange 
chaos,  I  slipped  beneath  the  canvas  and  was  soon 
asleep. 


YPSILON    PEAK   FROM   DEER   MOUNTAIN. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

YPSILON   PEAK. 

THOUGH  making  many  climbs  among  the 
higher  peaks  and  giving  much  study  and 
investigation  to  the  upper  snows,  not  all  of  the 
time  of  two  joyous  summers  in  Estes  Park  was 
spent  on  the  mountain-tops,  but  many  days  were 
whiled  away  in  rides,  drives,  and  strolls  among 
the  quiet  scenes  of  this  beautiful  vale.  Encircling 
the  shores  of  Mary's  Lake  and  tracing  from  afar 
routes  which  we  had  followed  into  the  range,  was 
a  delight.  We  climbed  the  ledges  of  little  Pros- 
pect Mountain,  and  studied  the  topography  of  the 
valleys  at  our  feet  or  of  the  rugged  mountains  in 
the  west.  We  galloped  over  pastures ;  we  forded 
river  and  creek.  Seemingly  inexhaustible  are  the 
scenes  of  pleasure  to  be  found  along  this  beautiful 
river  of  Estes  Park  in  its  short  yet  varied  course 
through  the  mountains.  Dashing  forth  from  a 
dark,  deep  cafion,  tumbling  over  precipices  and 
ledges,  the  stream  ceases  for  a  space  in  its  hurry, 
winds  gently  through  the  peaceful  valley,  then 


120  MOUNTAINEERING    IN    COLORADO. 

again  descends  as  a  rapid  through  ravines  in  the 
foot-hills,  and  afterward  sluggishly  creeps  across 
the  plains  to  join  the  Platte.  In  one  of  its  little 
glens  we  were  shown  the  last  memento  of  Indian 
life  existing  in  the  valley,  —  a  "  wickyup,"  or 
arbor-wigwam,  hidden  in  the  dense  aspen  growth, 
and  built  of  these  trees.  It  had  stood  there  longer 


than  the  oldest  settler  knew ;  the  poles  were  rot- 
ting and  falling  in,  and  could  have  retained  their 
position  but  a  little  while  longer  ;  but  alas  !  a  fire 
has  since  swept  through  the  aspen  forest,  and  the 
"  wickyup "  has  been  destroyed  before  its  time. 
Still  more  interesting  and  novel  are  the  scenes  to 
be  met  with,  or  perhaps  rather  to  be  ferreted  out, 


YPSILOX    PEAK.  121 

along  the  banks  of  the  little  torrents  that  flow  into 
the  Big  Thompson  from  the  north  and  from  the 
south.  One  of  these  streams  is  Wind  River,  beauti- 
ful to  me  from  many  associations.  It  was  on  one 
of  ibose  happy  days  upon  its  borders  that  my 
great  interest  began  in  the  mountain  that  I  am 
about  to  describe. 

That  day  I  was  in  this  pretty  valley  with  my 
wife.  We  had  spent  the  time  lazily  near  a  de- 
serted cabin  by  the  stream.  I  had  been  fishing 
a  little.  Later  we  were  looking  at  the  mountains, 
which  from  here  are  so  beautiful  in  the  west.  One 
great  peak  with  a  steep  wall  facing  the  east,  and  a 
long  reclining  ridge  leading  toward  the  southwest, 
especially  interested  us.  A  large  snow-field  lay 
on  the  eastern  face ;  two  glittering  bauds  of  ice 
extended  skyward  to  the  ridge  of  the  mountain, 
forming  a  perfect  Y.  My  wife  said  to  me,  "  Its 
name  shall  be  Ypsilon  Peak."  So  it  went  forth, 
and  the  name  was  accepted  by  the  dwellers  in  the 
valley  and  by  the  visitors  at  the  ranches. 

I  have  already  described  the  views  from  two 
little  mountains,  Sheep  and  Prospect,  which  are  in 
Estes  Park,  and  separated  from  the  main  range  by 
valleys  and  meadows.  There  is  another  elevation, 
nearer  to  some  of  the  great  peaks,  which  is  well 
worthy  of  description,  especially  in  connection 


122 


MOUNTAINEERING   IN    COLORADO. 


with  Ypsilon.  This  is  Deer  Mountain,  a  beautiful 
wooded  elevation,  with  long  sweeps  of  pasture- 
land  reaching  from  the  pine  growth  down  to  the 

rushing  Big 
Thompson 
Eiver.  Bea- 
ver Park  is  on 
the  southern 
flanks,  and 
separates  it 
from  Eagle 
Cliff.  On  the 
north  a  nar- 
row valley  di- 
vides it  from 
the  southern 
ridge  of  the 
Black  Canon ; 
and  this  nar- 
row valley 
leads  into  a 
wide  "  open  " 

called  Horseshoe  Park,  which  lies  between  Deer 
Mountain  and  the  range.  Deer  Mountain,  itself 
beautiful  to  look  upon,  gives  charming  views  of 
the  mountains  and  valleys.  One  must  traverse 
its  summit,  a  great  square  nearly  a  half-mile 


Gazing  at  Ypsilon  from  Deer  Mountain. 


YPSILON   PEAK.  123 

broad,  from  one  end  to  the  other  in  order  to 
obtain  the  different  views ;  but  each  corner  is 
marked  by  an  elevated  ledge,  from  whose  sum- 
mit the  perfect  outlooks  are  obtained.  It  was 
from  one  of  these  ledges,  the  westernmost,  and 
overlooking  that  unique  valley,  Horseshoe  Park, 
that  I  obtained  the  finest  view  of  Ypsilon. 

The  larger  parks  of  Colorado,  such  as  Estes,  are 
beautiful ;  but  these  smaller  ones  found  higher  up 
among  the  mountains  are  far  more  interesting  and 
picturesque.  Met  with  in  among  the  fastnesses  of 
the  hills,  they  can  never  fail  to  be  a  surprise  to 
the  traveller,  the  hunter,  or  the  explorer.  They 
are  hidden  between  steep  ridges,  which  are  clothed 
with  dense  spruce  or  pine  to  their  base.  In  the 
glade  the  trees  are  scattered,  as  if  planted  for  a 
park  with  broad  walks  between.  The  water  flow- 
ing through  is  no  longer  a  dashing  torrent,  but  a 
quiet  stream,  its  banks  lined  with  aspens  which 
quiver  and  rustle  in  the  breeze.  Sometimes  the 
narrow  glen  widens  into  a  vast  level  stretch,  with 
high  peaks  walling  in  the  distance  and  looking  down 
upon  fair  meadows.  Such  a  valley  is  Horseshoe 
Park,  and  Ypsilon  and  its  rocky  spurs  block  the 
western  sky.  The  smaller  glades  found  about 
timber-line  on  Ypsilon  and  Hague's  Peaks  are 
even  more  picturesque.  This  is  especially  true  of 


124  MOUNTAINEERING   IN    COLORADO. 

those  found  on  the  densely  wooded  slopes  of  the 
latter  peak,  which  upon  the  opposite  side  is  a  bare 
rock  and  snow  waste  down  to  a  much  lower  alti- 
tude. In  following  the  ill-defined  trail  from  Estes 
Park  to  Lawn  Lake,  along  the  slopes  of  the  great 
peak,  struggling  up  through  the  forest,  the  trav- 
eller suddenly  comes  upon  such  glades  at  frequent 
intervals,  and  it  seems  as  if  a  deer  or  elk  must 
surely  bound  out  of  the  tall  luxurious  grass  into 
the  dark  forest. 

Never  anxious  to  send  me  away  from  her  side 
into  the  mountains,  the  sponsor  of  Ypsilon  was 
always  desirous  that  I  should  ascend  this  peak  ; 
but  the  summer  vacation  of  1887  passed  away, 
and  it  still  remained  unclirnbed.  During  this 
last  summer,  however,  the  not  difficult  but  very 
interesting  feat  was  accomplished. 

Thursday,  August  9,  a  camping  outfit  was 
packed  in  Ferguson's  stage ;  and  our  party,  con- 
sisting of  Mr.  Hallett,  Mr.  Gilman,  Mr.  George 
W.  Thacher,  Mr.  J.  E.  Edmands,  Prof.  C.  E. 
Fay,  and  the  writer,  started  for  Horseshoe  Park 
to  attempt  Ypsilon  Peak.  Mr.  Gilman  and  my- 
self rode  horses,  which  were  to  be  used  as  pack 
animals  on  our  arrival  in  Horseshoe  Park.  We 
left  Ferguson's  ranch  at  9.30  A.  M.,  and  reached 
the  end  of  the  road  at  11.30.  There  we  unloaded 


YPSILON   PEAK. 


125 


the  wagon  and  sent  it  home,  packed  the  two 
horses  with  the  necessary  outfit,  and  turning  to 
the  right  followed  an  old  trail  by  the  side  of  a 
creek  which  flows  from  Lawn  Lake.  We  lunched 
in  a  park 
where  there 
was  feed  for 
the  horses, 
and  higher  up 
at  four  o'clock 
forded  the 
creek  under 
some  difficul- 
ties, the  oper- 
ation consum- 
ing half  an 
hour.  After 
leaving  the 
ford,  there 
was  no  trail; 
so  Mr.  Hallett  led  the  pro- 
cession with  axe  in  hand,  and  was  obliged  to 
cut  and  hew  right  and  left. 

With  our  faces  now  turned  directly  toward 
Ypsilon  Peak,  and  several  hundred  feet  above  a 
brook  which  flows  from  its  snows,  we  worked  our 
way  over  the  side  of  a  great  ancient  moraine  for 


126  MOUNTAINEERING  IN   COLORADO. 

three  hours,  and  on  the  banks  of  the  stream  found 
a  suitable  camping-spot  at  dark.  I  acted  as  com- 
missary and  cook,  but  fear  that  my  comrades  were 
not  over  and  above  pleased  with  the  very  plain 
fare.  We  passed  the  night  under  cover  of  canvas, 
rubber,  and  blankets  ;  we  did  not  carry  a  tent. 
With  the  exception  of  one  of  our  number,  we  all 
slept  well. 

In  the  morning  we  left  camp  at  7.20,  —  at  first 
in  a  body,  but,  as  is  generally  the  case  with  such 
a  large  party,  we  were  soon  scattered  all  over  the 
flanks  of  Mount  Fairchild,  over  the  top  of  which  we 
intended  to  go.  Mr.  Hallett  carried  my  sensitized 
plates,  —  a  heavy  load.  I  lugged  the  camera,  and 
in  addition  to  this  burden  was  troubled  with  a 
very  lame  foot,  and  had  little  hope  of  standing  on 
the  summit  of  Ypsilon  that  day.  Mr.  Edmands 
soon  made  direct  for  the  summit  of  Fairchild, 
which  he  reached  at  10.55 ;  while  the  rest  of  us 
bore  to  the  right  in  order  to  gain  a  ridge,  by  fol- 
lowing which  we  thought  we  should  obtain  good 
views  the  whole  morning  long.  We  kept  nearly 
together,  Messrs.  Fay  and  Hallett  arriving  first  on 
the  ridge  at  8.15.  At  that  point  I  took  pictures 
of  Ypsilon,  and  higher  up  obtained  fine  views  of 
Hague's  Peak  and  the  west  peak  of  the  Mummy 
Eange.  The  deeply  furrowed  precipitous  sides  of 


YPS1LON  PEAK.  127 

the  former  peak,  rising  nearly  three  thousand  feet 
above  the  timber,  were  marvellous  to  behold. 

Messrs.  Fay,  Hallett,  and  Thacher  now  went 
ahead  for  Fairchild  ;  and  Mr.  Gilman  and  I,  not 
being  in  good  condition,  determined  to  skirt  that 
mountain  a  few  hundred  feet  below  the  summit. 
We  were  soon  joined  by  Mr.  Thacher,  who  was 
also  out  of  sorts  and  had  given  up  Fairchild. 
Luckily  we  had  one  canteen  of  milk  and  a  flask 
of  brandy  with  us,  and  constituted  ourselves  an 
invalid  corps  for  a  short  time,  when,  strange  to 
relate,  my  lame  foot  with  exercise  had  become 
entirely  well.  Mr.  Gilman  also  had  quite  re- 
covered from  his  indisposition;  so,  leaving  our 
friend  to  continue  a  direct  high-level  route  to  the 
notch  between  Fairchild  and  Ypsilon,  we  made 
straight  for  the  top  of  the  former,  over  the  steepest 
part  of  the  peak.  This  enabled  me  to  examine  a 
snow-field  in  which  I  had  long  been  interested ; 
but  I  was  disappointed  in  it.  When  I  came  to 
Estes  Park,  the  first  of  July,  it  was  a  great  body 
of  snow,  and  so  shows  in  photographs  taken  dur- 
ing that  month;  but  it  had  steadily  decreased, 
and  now,  a  perfect  arrowhead  in  form  and  at  its 
minimum  in  size,  the  ice  was  very  thin  and  shal- 
low. At  the  snow  we  again  changed  our  plans, 
thinking  that  we  should  be  too  late  to  meet  our 


128  MOUNTAINEERING   IN   COLORADO. 

friends  on  the  summit,  and  bore  away  around  the 
peak,  hoping  to  head  them  off.  We  crossed  their 
path  a  hundred  feet  above  them,  and  arrived  on 
the  scene  at  an  opportune  moment.  We  had 
commenced  to  descend  at  a  rapid  gait,  when  Mr. 
Gilman  shouted,  "  Look  !  a  bear ! "  He  spied  the 
animal,  a  great  cinnamon,  as  it  was  emerging  from 
its  lair  under  a  projecting  ledge.  I  shouted  to 
Mr.  Hallett,  who  carried  a  revolver ;  and  he  gave 
Bruin  several  shots,  all  but  one  of  which  sounded 
"  click  "  against  the  rocks.  The  bullet  that  re- 
turned no  sound  we  suppose  lodged  in  bear 
meat.  Like  the  grizzly  which  we  met  last  year  on 
Murnmy  Mountain,  this  bear  seemed  bound  for 
Wyoming,  and  soon  disappeared  beyond  the  sky- 
line of  the  mountain ;  but  he  gave  us  lots  of  fun 
for  a  few  minutes. 

We  reached  the  notch  at  12.50  P.  M.,  and  there 
joining  Mr.  Edmands  we  began  on  the  lunch.  Mr. 
Thacher  soon  came  in,  and  reported  having  seen 
two  young  cinnamon  bears  playing  on  ledges  below 
him.  The  bear  question  was  getting  serious. 

At  1.30  P.  M.  Messrs.  Edmands,  Hallett,  and 
Fay  started  for  Ypsilon's  crest,  which  they  reached 
at  2.25.  Mr.  Thacher  started  down  through  a 
gorge  for  camp,  which  I  considered  a  very  heroic 
action ;  for  my  part  I  never  should  have  ventured 


YPSILON   PEAK.  129 

through  that  country  alone  and  unarmed.  Mr. 
Oilman  and  I  spent  some  time  selecting  view- 
points and  taking  photographs,  using  up  most  of 
the  plates.  The  views  from  the  notch  are  very 
fine,  especially  toward  the  west.  Starting  for 
Ypsilon  at  two  o'clock,  we  followed  the  route 
taken  by  the  others,  which  led  up  the  gradual 
western  slope  of  the  mountain,  and  reached  the 
summit  at  3.10.  We  found  the  topographer  busy 
taking  angles ;  but  all  his  labor  was  for  naught, 
on  account  of  the  disturbance  caused  by  the  pres- 
ence of  magnetic  iron  in  the  rocks.  Although 
the  day  was  perfect  for  an  expedition  in  the 
mountains,  the  breeze  was  a  little  too  fresh  on  the 
highest  rocks ;  so  we  all  dropped  down  under  a 
ledge  on  the  east  face,  and  scanned  with  the  field- 
glass  the  gorges  below. 

Ypsilon  from  above  is  even  finer  than  from 
below.  The  snow  gullies  which  form  the  long 
lines  converging  together  at  the  base,  which  give 
the  peak  its  name,  cut  deep  into  the  mountain's 
flanks,  and  have  formed  miniature  cafions.  Weird 
shapes  of  snow  cling  to  nooks  which  are  sheltered 
from  the  sun.  One  cornice  had  a  big  hole  in  it, 
as  if  a  cannon-ball  had  passed  through.  But  the 
great  point  of  interest  is  the  steep  character  of  the 
whole  northeastern  face.  Numerous  lakes  were 

9 


130  MOUNTAINEERING   IN    COLORADO. 

visible  below,  between  us  and  our  camp ;  some 
were  perched  on  high  moraines  far  away  from  the 
base  of  the  peak ;  while  straight  down  and  over 
two  thousand  feet  below,  immediately  at  the  base 
of  the  cliffs,  we  saw  two  large  ones  which  were 
walled  in  by  dikes.  All  the  great  peaks  in  the 
neighborhood  have  these  characteristic  glacial 
lakelets.  The  debris  seems  to  have  been  swept 
away  from  the  exit  end,  though  great  blocks  lie 
on  the  side. 

In  a  short  time  we  went  to  the  point  near 
where  the  left  snow  couloir  begins,  and  hurled 
off  big  bowlders,  imagining  that  we  could  send 
them  into  the  water  below.  Only  one  thing  pre- 
vented :  we  could  not  find  any  rocks  tenacious 
enough  to  hold  together.  All  were  reduced  to  frag- 
ments before  they  reached  the  smooth  surface  of 
the  lake. 

The  three  who  first  arrived  on  the  summit 
soon  left  us,  and  following  the  ridge  descended 
the  next  peak  south  on  their  way  to  camp.  After 
parting  with  these  companions  we  returned  to  the 
summit  of  Ypsilon  and  commenced  to  erect  a 
cairn,  but  the  rocks  being  too  heavy  to  handle 
easily,  we  gave  it  up.  As  the  wind  had  died 
down  a  little,  we  spread  out  a  map  on  the  rocks, 
and  with  aid  of  compass  identified  many  points  of 


YPSILON   PEAK.  131 

interest ;  but  soon  abandoned  that  simply  to  take 
in  the  glorious  view.  Long's  Peak  with  its  grand 
tower  never  looked  nobler.  The  mountains  in 
Estes  Park  were  but  his  little  foot-hills.  The 
moraine  in  Willow  Park,  the  smaller  ones  in 
Horseshoe,  and  the  still  larger  one,  which  above 
our  camp  led  down  towards  Horseshoe  Park,  were 
very  prominent  features  in  the  near  landscape. 
The  imposing  rocky  face  of  Hague's  Peak  cut  off 
the  northern  horizon.  Past  the  turrets  of  the 
west  peak  of  the  Mummy  Kange  we  saw  the  ice 
of  the  summit  of  Hallett  Glacier.  Then  for  the 
first  time  I  realized  why  that  great  mass  of  snow 
exceeded  all  others  in  the  Front  Range.  Placed 
near  the  summit  of  a  peak  14,000  feet  in  height, 
it  lies  in  such  a  cold  region  that  this  alone  pre- 
vents little  waste  from  melting. 

The  view  toward  the  west  is  magnificent.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  this  district  is  yet  in  a 
wild  state.  Let  not  the  reader  think  when  he 
looks  at  the  map  and  sees  places  noted,  such  as 
"  Lulu,"  "  Michigan  City,"  that  it  means  much. 
In  many  cases  such  dots  mark  but  the  site  of 
deserted  mining-camps  or  lonely  ranches.  "  Mo- 
raine," for  example,  in  Estes  Park,  given  place  on 
the  map  in  large  letters,  is  in  reality  one  ranch, 
Sprague's,  with  a  few  cottages  for  summer  visitors. 


132  MOUNTAINEERING   IN   COLORADO. 

Perhaps  two  or  three  members  of  the  family  at 
the  most  remain  at  the  ranch  during  the  winter 
months.  Grand  County,  whose  mountains  we 
gazed  upon,  contains  some  2,000  square  miles, 
and  had  at  the  last  census  a  population  of  417 
persons.  These  mostly  dwell  in  the  lower  part  of 
Middle  Park ;  so  it  may  be  imagined  that  very 
few  human  beings  were  in  the  wide  country  that 
we  looked  upon.  Right  beneath,  a  deep  upper 
valley  of  the  Cache  la  Poudre  River  separated  us 
from  the  beautiful  rock  peak  represented  in  Plate 
IX.  This  mountain,  like  innumerable  others 
dominated  over  by  Upper  Grand  Valley  Peak, 
was  a  study  in  itself.  The  tapering  summit,  the 
white  snow-field,  the  glacial  lakelet,  were  beauti- 
ful. What  an  ice-fall  and  what  a  crevasse  must 
once  have  marked  the  place  where  one  sees  the 
sudden  break  in  the  gradual  slopes  below  the 
lake !  There  were  scenes  such  as  the  camera 
cannot  carry  away  from  mountains  like  these. 
Far  below  in  the  green  valley  were  dashing 
brooks,  roaring  cascades,  miles  of  green  meadow 
and  great  forest,  such  as  the  dwellers  on  the 
plains  little  dream  grow  in  Colorado. 

All  these  things  were  seen  in  a  few  moments, 
and  we  began  a  rapid  descent.  In  half  an  hour 
we  reached  the  point  near  the  col  where  we  left 


UNNAMED   MOUNTAIN    WEST   OF   YPSILON   PEAK. 


YPSILON   PEAK. 


133 


the  camera,  and  hastened  down  the  gorge.  Of  the 
three  routes  to  camp  followed  by  our  divided 
party,  we  suspect  that  we  took  the  most  inter- 
esting. Surely  there  are  no  finer  turrets  and 
pinnacles  to  be  found  among  the  mountains  than 
those  which  sur- 
mount the  ardtes  of 
Ypsilon  on  the 
north.  We  lingered 
to  take  some  pho- 
tographs, but  when 
on  the  col  a  gust 
of  wind  had  struck 
the  camera,  and 
throwing  it  over  had 
broken  the  ground 
glass ;  so  the  pic- 
tures taken  later  did 
not  prove  to  be 
quite  in  focus.  The 

accompanying  cut  represents  the  sharply  serrated 
portion  of  a  narrow  ridge  which  descends  from  the 
shoulder  seen  in  Plate  VIII.  on  the  right  of  the 
highest  peak  of  Ypsilon.  The  heavy  mass  of  snow 
below  the  junction  of  the  two  arms  of  the  Y,  fairly 
indicated  in  the  plate,  lies  in  a  gulch  of  which  this 
ridge  forms  the  right  or  northerly  wall. 


134  MOUNTAINEERING   IN    COLORADO. 

As  we  descended  lower  we  came  upon  other 
beautiful  lakes  and  extensive  greenswards.  The 
cliffs  above  us  echoed  back  many  a  shout  which 
we  sent  up  among  them,  for  we  thought  that 
perhaps  our  companion  of  the  morning  might  be 
waiting  for  us  among  some  of  the  ledges.  Our 
way  was  free  from  great  difficulties  until  near 
camp  and  at  dark,  when  we  became  involved  in 
the  mysteries  and  miseries  of  a  forest  swamp. 
We  divided  loads  and  changed  packs ;  but  it 
seemed  to  me,  whichever  I  carried,  camera  or 
plates,  that  they  were  never  so  heavy  before.  We 
got  to  camp  at  7.45  o'clock,  and  were  the  last  in. 
Camp-fire  that  night  was  an  interesting  one,  as 
each  had  a  story  to  tell. 

It  seems  that  our  leader,  by  an  accident  and 
misunderstanding,  became  separated  from  his  com- 
panions, and  getting  lower  down  in  the  gorges 
arrived  first  at  camp.  The  professor,  descending 
a  little  in  front  of  the  topographer  at  the  upper 
edge  of  the  scrub  growth,  was  very  much  startled 
by  two  large  cinnamon  bears,  which  at  full  speed, 
and  growling,  advanced  upon  him  in  tandem 
order.  He  shouted  loudly,  and  whirled  his  shin- 
ing canteen  in  the  air  with  sufficient  energy  to 
change  the  plans  of  Bruin,  who  had  probably 
considered  him  some  small  game.  The  one  in 


YPSILON   PEAK. 


135 


advance,  now  within  twenty  feet,  turned  so  quickly 
in  his  tracks  that  he  almost  knocked  over  Ursa 
Minor,  following  at  his  heels.  Their  appearance 
was  for  a  moment  ludicrous,  and  tended  to  neu- 
tralize the  sensation  of  fright  which  the  beasts 
had  at  first  excited.  Mr.  Edmands  hurried  to 
the  scene,  of  which  the  two  gentlemen  remained 
masters ;  for  the  animals,  after  getting  themselves 
together,  disappeared  into  the  timber. 

Our  camp  was  also  a  merry  one ;  we  knew  no 
sadness.  We  had  been  upon  a  beautiful  moun- 
tain, had  met  with  adventures  and  no  mishaps, 
and  were  now  safe  around  a  blazing  fire  within 
the  circle  of  whose  rays  neither  bear  nor  mountain 
lion  would  dare  to  venture. 


CHAPTEE  VII. 

HAGUE'S  PEAK. 

OUE  party  for  a  grand  trip  to  the  Hallett 
Glacier,  returning  over  Hague's  Peak,  con- 
sisted of  four  persons,  all  of  whom  were  connected 
with  the  expedition  to  Ypsilon.  It  was  a  ques- 
tion whether  we  should  camp  at  Horseshoe  Park 
or  in  the  Black  Canon,  but  at  last  we  chose  the 
latter.  We  decided  to  take  a  wagon  as  far  as 
possible,  and  so  carry  a  tent.  We  also  made  up 
our  minds  to  dispense  with  pack  animals,  and 
make  a  long  day  of  it. 

We  left  Ferguson's  at  two  o'clock  p.  M.,  August 
14,  reached  the  end  of  the  wagon-road  on  the 
south  bank  of  the  stream  at  a  quarter  before  four, 
and  getting  our  traps  across  the  river  pitched 
our  fly-tent  under  some  pines.  While  the  others 
were  doing  the  hard  work  of  making  camp,  I 
shirked  duty,  and  ascending  the  slope  on  the  south 
side  of  the  canon  took  a  number  of  photographs 
of  the  walls  opposite.  Three  towering  rocks 
mark  the  highest  part  of  the  canon ;  below,  the 


HAGUE  S   PEAK. 


137 


summits   are   dome-shaped,  and    far  down,   near 
the   entrance,   two   sculptured   figures   stand   out 
from  the  parapet,  appearing   almost   exactly  like 
two  great  owls.     These  remarkable   rocks   inter- 
ested me  ;  but  I  was  soon  obliged  to  leave  them, 
for  I  had  only  been  gone  from  camp  an  hour  be- 
fore it  commenced 
to  rain.    The  rainy 
season    was     sup- 
posed to  be  over; 
but    this   night 
gave   such   suppo- 
sition the  lie,   for 
the   storm  contin- 
ued    all     through 
the     dark     hours. 
The    fly-tent    shed 
most  of  the  water, 
and    we    slept 
soundly  and  were 

kept  dry.  This  was  the  only  occasion  on  which 
we  used  a  tent  in  expeditions  among  the  moun- 
tains ;  and  it  was  very  fortunate  that  we  brought 
one  this  day. 

Our  camp  was  certainly  a  luxurious  one ;  such 
living  as  we  had,  if  continued,  would  soon  spoil 
one  for  hard  trips ;  but  it  was  a  reaction  against 


138 


MOUNTAINEERING   IN    COLORADO. 


the  very  simple  fare  that  I,  as  commissary,  had 
imposed  upon  my  friends  in  Camp  Ypsilon.  An- 
other acted  in  this  capacity  in  the  memorable 
camp  in  the  Black 
Canon,  and  course 
followed  course,  — 
oat-meal,  roasted  po- 
tatoes, toast,  steak, 
etc.,  till  at  eleven 
o'clock  draughts  of 


chocolate  ended  the  supper,  and  pipes  were  brought 
out.  The  commissary  also  did  the  proper  thing  in 
the  morning,  —  built  a  fire  before  we  were  awake, 


HAGUE'S  PEAK.  139 

and  at  five  o'clock  whispered  gently  in  our  ear, 
"  Coffee,"  which  we  drank  before  getting  up. 

The  day  dawned  so  dark  and  rainy  that  it  was 
seven  o'clock  before  we  decided  to  start.  One  of 
our  number  had  brought  a  horse,  on  which  he 
proposed  to  ride  as  far  as  the  trail  led  up  the 
canon.  This  was  a  great  gain  to  the  rest  of  us 
also,  as  he  carried  the  lunch.  We  started  off  at  a 
terrific  pace,  knowing  that  we  must  hurry.  The 
pedestrians  got  very  wet,  but  the  horseman  was 
so  thoroughly  soaked  and  chilled  that  at  half-past 
nine  he  decided  to  turn  back.  He  had  received 
all  the  water  from  the  wet  branches  that  he  had 
ridden  through,  while  the  rest  of  us  were  only  wet 
below  the  knees. 

Mr.  Edmauds,  Professor  Fay,  and  I  kept  on 
toward  Lawn  Lake,  which  we  reached  at  quarter 
before  eleven.  This  lake  is  certainly  a  marvellous 
sheet  of  water,  situated  in  a  valley  about  10,700 
feet  above  the  sea.  It  is  over  half  a  mile  long, 
has  beautiful  grassy  slopes  on  all  sides,  and  fine 
groves  of  spruce  near  its  banks.  High  above,  on 
the  south,  loom  the  crags  of  Mount  Fairchild. 
The  precipices  of  Hague's  Peak  rise  three  thou- 
sand feet  above  one  on  the  north,  and  at  the  end 
of  the  valley  are  the  buttresses  of  the  west  peak 
of  the  Mummy. 


140  MOUNTAINEERING   IN   COLORADO. 


Summit  of  Hague's  Peak. 

We  made  for  this  mountain,  our  route  some- 
times leading  through  a  maze  of  bowlders,  and 
then  up  steep  grassy  slopes ;  then  again  over  level 


HAGUE'S  PEAK.  141 

greenswards  where  innumerable  rills  wandered. 
Among  the  rocks  we  saw  two  badgers,  the  only 
animals  larger  than  conies  that  we  met  this  day. 
They  seemed  alone  in  this  wild  solitary  basin,  and 
we  did  not  disturb  them  with  a  shot. 

We  passed  two  lakes  at  the  base  of  the  peaks  of 
Mount  Fairchild,  lunched  near  the  notch  between 
that  mountain  and  the  Mummy,  and  soon  began 
our  ascent. 

It  is  rarely  that  the  climber  in  the  Eockies 
meets  with  much  difficulty  in  ascending  the  ac- 
cessible sides  of  the  peaks.  I  have  already 
pointed  out  the  fact  that  an  easy  route  is  generally 
found  to  the  summits  ;  but  the  illustrations  which 
refer  to  Long's  Peak  and  Ypsilon  Peak  show  con- 
clusively that  one  face  on  each  of  these  peaks  is 
absolutely  inaccessible.  On  this  day  we  seemed 
to  have  struck  the  rocks  on  the  Mummy  at  a 
place  which  gave  us  the  only  bit  of  difficult 
scrambling  that  we  found  during  the  summer.  If 
they  had  been  a  little  more  difficult,  we  should 
have  been  obliged  to  make  a  long  detour.  When 
our  work  commenced  the  weather  was  fair,  and 
we  had  clear  views  of  the  valley  below,  and  of 
the  surrounding  peaks  ;  but  as  we  got  higher  up, 
a  dense  fog  settled  down  upon  our  peak,  and  later 
snow  fell,  making  the  rocks  quite  slippery.  To 


142  MOUNTAINEERING   IN   COLORADO. 

select  an  easy  route  was  impossible ;  the  ledges 
became  barely  practicable.  Fortunately  the  dip 
of  the  strata  was  in  our  favor,  the  rocks  were 
pretty  firm,  and  we  mounted  higher  and  higher. 
The  storm  added  to  the  weirdness  of  the  situation ; 
splintered  crags  appeared  before  us  like  the  weath- 
ered towers  of  ancient  fortresses.  Overhanging 
rocks  forced  us  to  edge  around  on  narrow  ledges. 
Seen  through  fog,  rain,  or  snow-flakes,  the  heights 
above  were  magnified,  and  the  Mummy,  which 
from  the  valleys  seems  as  if  in  repose,  now  showed 
itself  an  angry  mountain.  Lover  as  I  am  of  clear, 
distant  panoramic  views,  yet  I  would  not  like  to 
have  missed  this  day's  experience.  We  finally 
overcame  all  difficulties ;  but  on  gaining  the  sum- 
mit, denser  clouds  encompassed  us,  and  snow-squalls 
rushed  over  the  peak.  The  temperature  was  34° 
above  zero.  Very  soon  we  started  down  toward 
the  glacier.  The  clouds  grew  thicker  and  denser, 
and  we  could  see  but  a  little  way  before  us- 
After  descending  to  what  I  thought  the  proper' 
distance  I  hesitated,  for  I  knew  we  must  be  within 
a  few  hundred  feet  of  the  ice,  and  also  realized 
that  in  the  obscuring  fog  it  would  be  very  easy 
to  go  a  little  too  far  to  the  left,  and  be  landed  in 
the  Cache  la  Poudre  valley.  In  a  few  min- 
utes the  clouds  lifted  a  little,  and  I  recognized 


HAGUE  S   PEAK. 


143 


the  snowfield  where  the  g 


rizzly  crossed  the  year 
before. 

I  glanced  to  the  left  and  waited  for  the  uncov- 
ering of  the  great  ice-field.  We  had  to  linger  but 
a  moment ;  a  sudden  rush  of  wind  dissolved  the 
mist,  or  bore  it  up  the  steep  slopes,  and  the  weird 
ice-field  lay  before  us,  its  summit  line  of  snow 
high  above  us  clearly  cut 


against  a  fog- 
bank,  and  great  yawning  crevasses  even  with  our 
eyes.  It  was  a  supreme  moment  to  me,  for  I  had 
talked  so  much  to  my  friends  of  this  ice-field  and 
its  wonders,  that  I  feared  their  disappointment; 
and  now  when  their  exclamation  came  forth, 
"  Wonderful ! "  I  was  exceedingly  gratified. 
The  situation  had  changed  but  little  in  a  year. 


144  MOUNTAINEERING   IN    COLORADO. 

Some  of  the  rocky  spires  had  fallen  ;  but  the 
general  line  of  cliffs  stood  intact,  even  the  nose  of 
the  profile  rock  had  not  varied  in  shape.  The 
crevasses  were  narrower  but  longer,  and  extended 
nearly  across  the  field.  The  blocks  of  ice  were 
much  larger  in  the  lake,  and  were  deeply  grooved 
both  on  the  upper  and  lower  surfaces.  Thin 
pieces  of  ice  were  also  floating  there,  side  by  side 
with  the  icebergs,  clearly  illustrating  the  differ- 
ence between  the  frozen  lake-water  and  masses 
which  had  fallen  from  the  glacier.  The  tops  of 
the  bergs  were  like  crusted  snow,  while  the  under 
surfaces  were  clear  blue  ice.  The  temperature  of 
the  water  was  34°,  the  same  as  that  of  the  air  on 
the  summit  of  the  peak.  Our  altitude  was  about 
13,000  feet. 

We  left  the  base  of  the  ice  at  about  three 
o'clock,  reached  a  deep  notch  between  the  two 
peaks  of  the  Mummy  Range  in  an  hour,  and  im- 
mediately tackled  the  steep  though  not  difficult 
side  of  Hague's  Peak.  We  reached  the  top  in  an 
hour  and  a  half ;  so  late  in  the  day,  it  was  rather 
cold,  but  we  thoroughly  enjoyed  the  view.  Mag- 
netic properties  of  the  summit  rocks  again  in- 
terfered with  our  topographer's  work  in  taking 
angles. 

Isolated  from  the  Front  Range  by  deep  valleys, 


HAGUE'S  PEAK.  145 

this  peak  is  certainly  well  calculated  to  serve  as  a 
view-point  from  which  to  observe  the  surrounding 
mountains.  It  was  a  delight  to  me,  as  I  lay  on 
the  rocks,  to  look  at  the  many  peaks  that  I  had 
climbed  in  the  range,  and  recall  incidents  in  the 
different  ascents.  But  two  elevations  of  impor- 
tance remained  for  me  to  scale  in  the  long  line 
extending  from  Long's  Peak  to  our  mountain,  one 
of  which,  fortunately,  I  am  able  to  describe  in  the 
concluding  chapter. 

As  viewed  from  the  valleys,  and  from  many 
points  in  Estes  Park,  it  had  always  seemed  to  me 
that  the  west  peak  of  the  Mummy  Range  was  a 
trifle  higher  than  Hague's  Peak ;  but  when  on  the 
former  summit  the  year  before,  it  seemed  as  if 
Hague's  was  the  higher  of  the  two ;  and  now,  as 
we  looked  back  at  the  west  peak,  it  certainly  did 
appear  higher  than  our  position,  and  the  baromet- 
ric record  of  the  day  gave  it  about  two  hundred 
feet  the  advantage. 

The  lateness  of  the  hour  did  not  allow  us  to 
linger  long  over  the  view,  and  the  knowledge  of 
the  character  of  the  blind  trail  which  we  must 
follow  after  reaching  the  canon  made  us  look 
anxiously  at  the  declining  sun.  It  was  five 
o'clock  when  we  turned  from  the  summit,  and 
started  at  a  rapid  gait  down  the  precipitous  sides 


146  MOUNTAINEERING  IN   COLOKABO. 

of  Hague's  Peak.  We  were  not  much  fatigued 
by  our  long  tramp,  so  we  sprang  lightly  from 
bowlder  to  bowlder  when  among  rocks,  and  ran 
swiftly  over  the  lower  grassy  stretches  and  down 
through  the  timber  that  clothes  the  slope  above 
the  trail ;  yet  darkness  overtook  us  in  the  forest 
lower  down,  and  we  had  a  struggle  among  its 
mazes.  We  lost  all  trace  of  trail,  and  only  knew 
of  our  emergence  from  the  canon  by  our  voices 
ceasing  to  return  echoes  from  the  walls  above. 
Fortunately,  when  we  reached  our  camp,  a  wagon 
was  waiting  for  us ;  all  the  traps  had  been  packed 
up,  and  an  hour  later  saw  us  at  Ferguson's. 

As  the  result  of  the  experience  of  three  expedi- 
tions, perhaps  it  would  be  well  to  state  the  best 
way  of  visiting  the  four  peaks  in  this  neighbor- 
hood ;  namely,  Ypsilon  Peak,  Mount  Fairchild, 
and  the  two  summits  of  the  Mummy  Range. 
A  passable  trail  leads  up  Black  Canon  to  Lawn 
Lake,  and  near  it  there  is  good  feed  for  horses. 
A  camp  could  be  pitched  there  the  first  day; 
Ypsilon  Peak  and  Mount  Fairchild  ascended  on 
the  second ;  Hallett  Glacier  and  the  two  peaks  of 
the  Mummy  Range  on  the  third ;  and  a  leisurely 
return  made  to  Estes  Park  on  the  fourth  day. 


CHAPTEE  VIII. 

STONE'S  PEAK. 

THE  period  of  iny  stay  in  Estes  Park  was 
drawing  to  a  close.  I  had  almost  made  up 
my  mind  to  take  no  more  trips  among  the  higher 
peaks.  On  the  evening  of  August  17  three  of 
my  mountaineering  friends  left  Ferguson's  for 
Lamb's  ranch,  with  the  intention  of  ascending 
Long's  Peak  on  the  following  day.  I  could  not 
well  be  away  from  home  that  night,  so  could  not 
go  with  them  ;  but  seeing  them  stride  away  from 
us,  all  my  restless  qualities  were  aroused,  and  I 
said  to  our  leader,  who  was  standing  in  the 
crowd  which  had  gathered  to  see  the  climbers  off, 
"  Why  not  start  early  in  the  morning  and  ascend 
the  peak  above  Willow  Cafton  ?  This  will  be  a 
novel  expedition."  He  assented ;  though  main- 
taining that  it  would  be  a  very  long  day's  tramp, 
and  that  it  would  be  much  better  to  camp  at 
timber-line.  "However,  we  will  try,"  he  said. 
So  in  the  bright  moonlight  we  went  out  into  the 
pasture,  rounded  up  the  horses  and  got  them  into 


148  MOUNTAINEERING   IN    COLORADO. 

the  corral,  in  order  to  have  them  ready  for  an 
early  start. 

At  four  o'clock  the  next  morning  there  came  a 
tap  at  my  cabin  window. 

"Hallett?" 

"  Yes  ;  time  to  be  off." 

We  were  on  our  horses  in  half  an  hour,  and 
were  soon  riding  at  a  wild  gallop  toward  Willow 
Canon. 

In  Willow  Park  we  disturbed  two  deer  that 
were  feeding  in  the  meadow ;  they  speedily  left 
for  the  mountains,  and  we  had  no  time  to  follow. 
It  was  fortunate  for  iis  that  we  took  horses  for 
the  first  part  of  the  journey,  for  in  following  the 
canon  trail  we  were  obliged  to  ford  the  river 
several  times.  At  quarter-past  seven  we  reached 
the  end  of  the  trail.  Tying  the  horses,  with  no 
other  burden  than  a  canteen  of  milk,  lunch, 
barometer,  and  field-glass,  we  pushed  on  and  up 
through  the  forest.  It  was  a  delight  to  be  free 
from  heavy  weights ;  and  much  as  I  needed  the 
camera  on  many  occasions  that  day,  I  do  not 
regret  having  left  it  behind. 

Very  soon  we  hit  upon  an  old  elk-trail,  which 
was  of  much  use  for  a  while.  In  it  we  observed 
fresh  tracks  of  a  mountain  lion.  We  reached 
the  junction  of  Fern  Eiver  and  the  Willow  Canon 


STONE'S  PEAK. 


149 


stream  at  eight  o'clock,  and  then  followed  an 
unnamed  creek,  the  sources  of  which  we  were  to 
know  better  later  in  the  day.  We  soon  crossed 
it  to  the  right,  and  climbed  steep  wooded  slopes 
till,  at  ten  o'clock,  we  reached  timber-line  (altitude 
11,100  feet).  Here  we  attacked  a  ridge,  which 
we  hoped, 
and  not 
in  vain, 
would  lead 
us  to  the 
main  peak 
whose  side 
was  mark- 
ed  by  a 
large  snow- 
field.  Our 
route  lay 
over  the 
summit  of 
three  very 
steep  mi- 
nor peaks,  and  we  were  often  brought  face  to  face 
with  precipices,  and  obliged  to  change  our  course. 
In  among  ledges  were  frequent  grass-plots,  where 
we  noticed  signs  of  big-horn.  Bounding  a  crag  we 
suddenly  startled  a  noble  ram, — a  perfect  speci- 


Playground  of  the  Big-horn. 


150  MOUNTAINEERING   IN    COLOEADO. 

men,  with  magnificent  curling  horns.  He  leaped 
from  rock  to  rock,  and  disappeared,  only  to  re- 
appear on  successive  ledges  to  take  a  look  at  us. 
After  gaining  a  considerable  height  above  us,  he 
seemed  to  take  courage,  made  longer  rests,  and 
once  stopped  to  rub  himself  against  a  projecting 
ledge.  We  had  several  opportunities  to  examine 
him  with  the  field-glass.  He  soon  reached  the 
summit  of  a  ridge,  and  standing  for  a  moment  on 
the  crest,  his  beautiful  form  projected  against  the 
sky-line,  he  gave  us  a  parting  glance  and  was  not 
seen  again.  We  moved  on,  and  immediately  an- 
other ram  jumped  up  in  front  of  us.  This  time 
so  great  was  the  bewilderment  of  the  animal  that 
he  did  not  think  to  go  up  the  mountain,  his  natural 
way  of  escape,  but  rushed  down  a  narrow  gorge 
which  ended  in  a  precipice  of  a  thousand  feet,  and 
paused  on  the  outer  rim  of  the  dizzy  cliff.  A  pis- 
tol-shot would  have  killed  him.  We  could  have 
knocked  him  over  with  a  big  stone,  but  of  what 
use  such  cruelty  ?  We  could  never  have  carried 
home  the  trophy.  He  glanced  at  us  a  moment, 
and  his  figure  neatly  balanced  was  a  most  inter- 
esting spectacle.  The  next  instant  he  jumped  to 
a  ledge  under  the  tower  which  we  stood  upon, 
rounded  it  in  two  skilful  bounds  where  we  could 
not  have  passed,  and  escaped  down  the  mountain. 


151 

Reasoning  that  more  of  the  animals  might  be 
feeding  on  the  grassy  slopes  of  the  opposite  sides 
of  the  mountain,  we  were  on  our  guard  against 
more  surprises.  With  the  wind  dead  ahead  we 
climbed  very  carefully,  and  as  we  surmounted  each 
ridge,  we  kept  our  bodies  hidden,  and  worked  our 
way  very  carefully  for  two  hours,  crawling  in  many 
places,  till  we  reached  a  point  where  only  two  peaks 
remained  between  us  and  the  snow-field.  Creeping 
to  a  notch  we  peered  over  a  broken  ledge,  and  were 
rewarded  for  our  long  fatiguing  stalk  by  beholding 
twelve  big-horn  quietly  feeding  or  resting  only  a 
hundred  yards  below  us.  The  first  rani  had  evi- 
dently gone  higher  up  the  mountain,  so  had  not 
alarmed  the  flock.  Quickly  and  stealthily  slipping 
over  the  ridge,  we  slid  behind  a  bowlder,  and  were 
able  to  observe  with  a  powerful  field-glass  the 
family  life  and  movements  of  these  wild  animals 
perfectly  unaware  of  our  presence.  The  flock  con- 
sisted of  eight  ewes,  two  yearlings,  and  two  very 
young  ones.  The  latter  we  frequently  observed 
in  the  act  of  sucking.  An  old  ewe  lying  on  an 
eminence  seemed  to  be  doing  guard-duty.  The 
flock  moved  but  slowly ;  we  noticed  some  getting 
up  and  others  lying  down.  It  was  an  hour  before 
the  group  passed  out  of  sight  around  the  side  of 
the  mountain. 


152  MOUNTAINEERING  IN   COLORADO. 

Notwithstanding  our  proximity  to  the  big-horn 
that  day,  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  have 
photographed  them,  even  if  we  had  brought  a 
camera;  for,  on  account  of  the  roughness  of  the 
ground,  I  could  not  have  got  the  instrument  in 
place  quick  enough  to  catch  the  rams  in  a  good 
position ;  again  the  flock  was  too  far  removed,  and 
their  color,  a  dusky  brown,  too  nearly  that  of  the 
rocks  among  which  they  were  moving,  to  secure 
clearness  of  outline  in  a  picture.  Seventy-five 
yards  is  about  the  limit  of  distance  at  which  a 
picture  of  animals  of  such  size,  that  is,  about 
six  feet  long  and  three  feet  six  inches  high,  could 
successfully  be  obtained. 

At  two  o'clock  we  were  on  our  way  once  more, 
and  half  an  hour  later,  near  the  top  of  what  I  call 
for  convenience  "  Peak  No.  3,"  a  fierce  snow-storm 
obliged  us  to  take  refuge  under  a  ledge.  The 
whirling  snow-flakes  blinded  us  so  that  we  could 
not  face  the  storm.  The  temperature  was  about 
45°  Fahrenheit  above  zero.  In  a  half-hour  the 
weather  cleared  about  us,  and  the  storm  drove 
towards  Long's  Peak.  Now  we  saw  below  us  a 
beautiful  rainbow  thrown  against  the  long  range 
north  of  Willow  Canon.  The  arch  rested  entirely 
on  the  mountain,  no  part  of  it  reflected  on  the  sky, 
—  a  necessary  result  of  such  a  phenomenon  at 


STONE'S  PEAK.  153 

that  time  of  day.  The  barometer  gave  13,100 
feet  as  the  altitude  of  "  Peak  No.  3." 

At  three  o'clock  in  a  violent  wind,  which  had 
followed  the  snow-storm,  we  stood  upon  "  Peak  No. 
2,"  altitude  13,130  feet.  The  gale,  however,  soon 
subsided,  after  clearing  the  air  of  clouds,  and  our 
view  was  unobstructed.  A  light  covering  of  snow 
lay  over  the  great  range ;  but  the  power  of  the  sun 
was  so  great,  that  in  an  hour  all  the  snow  was 
melted,  and  no  one  would  have  believed  that  there 
had  been  such  a  squall. 

The  main  peak  was  now  within  our  grasp ;  but 
being  in  no  hurry  to  bag  it,  we  first  strolled  to  the 
west  edge  of  the  mountain,  and  looked  down  into 
a  beautiful  green  valley  whose  stream  is  a  trib- 
utary of  the  Poudre.  I  do  not  doubt  that  elk 
can  be  found  in  this  valley;  surely  it  is  just  the 
place  for  them.  I  had  long  wished  to  stand  at 
this  point,  in  order  to  examine  with  a  field-glass 
two  large  snow-fields  which,  when  seen  from  the 
summit  of  Ypsilon  Peak,  I  had  thought  might 
prove  to  be  of  a  glacial  nature.  From  this  nearer 
view-point  they  showed  clearly  their  true  char- 
acter ;  they  were  simply  large  shallow  snow-fields. 

The  ragged  and  wild  appearance  of  the  moun- 
tain tops  surprised  me ;  and  this  view,  now  com- 
paratively unknown,  is  destined,  I  think,  to  become 


154  MOUNTAINEERING  IN    COLORADO. 

famous.  One  sharp  rock-peak  directly  to  the 
southwest  of  Stone's  Peak  deserves  the  attention 
of  mountaineers. 

As  we  turned  and  climbed  towards  the  summit 
of  Stone's  Peak,  rising  above  the  peaks  to  the 
west  and  now  at  our  backs,  we  often  stopped, 
faced  about,  and  looked  at  them.  Clark's  Peak,  in 
the  Medicine  Bow  Range,  is  a  beauty  from  this 
point.  Specimen  Mountain,  recognized  by  the 
kite-shaped  snow-field  near  its  flat  top,  was  es- 
pecially interesting.  This  mountain,  as  well  as 
a  number  of  similar  peaks  around  it,  has  been  the 
scene  of  volcanic  disturbance,  or,  as  Lamb  of 
Long's  Peak  says,  "  of  a  blow-out."  Its  sides 
are  said  to  be  covered  with  pumice. 

Now  came  the  great  event  of  the  day.  We  had 
nearly  gained  the  top  of  the  peak,  and  were  cross- 
ing a  ridge  with  our  faces  turned  toward  the  south, 
when  there  came  in  view  a  large  snow-field  that 
no  one  would  have  expected  to  find  in  such  a 
position.  Mr.  Hallett  exclaimed,  "  There 's  a 
frozen  lake  for  you  ! "  Then  both  of  us  cried, 
"A  glacier!" 

At  quarter-past  three  we  were  on  the  highest 
rocks  of  Stone's  Peak.  I  at  once  read  my  barom- 
eter, and  took  compass  bearings.  The  altitude 
was  found  to  be  1 3,500  feet.  The  west  peak  of 


STONE'S  PEAK.  155 

Mummy  Mountain  lay  due  north  ;  Hague's  Peak 
15°  east  of  north ;  and  Long's  Peak  10°  south  of 
east.  The  observations  were  made  with  all  pos- 
sible haste,  as  no  time  was  to  be  lost  if  the  marvel- 
lous snow-field  was  to  be  reached.  At  four  o'clock 
we  were  off.  We  realized  that  we  were  imperil- 
ling, if  not  life  and  limb,  at  least  our  comfort  and 
the  peace  of  mind  of  friends  at  the  ranch,  in  thus 
launching  out  in  a  direction  away  from  home  at 
that  time  of  day  instead  of  turning  toward  it ; 
but  our  excitement  was  too  great  to  listen  to  the 
counsel  of  prudence.  Though  foreseeing  that  we 
might  be  headed  off  by  some  canon  wall  in  taking 
an  unknown  line  of  descent,  we  thought  that  we 
could  still  make  timber-line  at  least  by  dark, 
build  a  fire,  and  keep  warm.  *?«2 

Our  descent  was  rapid.  We  went  over  the  top  of 
two  rocky  needles  and  reached  the  slopes  of  the 
peak  which  bore  the  snow-field  without  having 
gone  below  the  level  of  the  foot  of  the  ice  ;  but  alas ! 
here  we  were  turned  from  our  nearly  direct  high- 
level  route  by  a  sheer  wall,  and  were  obliged  to 
drop  down  several  hundred  feet,  then  reascend  to 
the  same  altitude.  The  whole  descent  and  ascent 
was  made  at  a  running  gait,  and  the  ice  was 
gained  at  five  o'clock.  The  altitude  was  12,100 
feet. 


156  MOUNTAINEERING  IN    COLORADO. 

Immediately  before  reaching  the  semi- frozen 
lake  that  lay  at  the  base  of  the  ice,  we  skirted 
the  sides  of  a  tarn,  then  surmounted  a  dike  from 
the  top  of  which  the  wonderful  snow-slope 
could  be  seen  from  summit  to  base.  It  lies  on 
the  north  face  of  the  mountain,  inclined  at  as 
steep  an  angle  as  will  allow  of  clinging  snow.  By 
the  east  edge  it  might  be  possible  to  ascend  the 
rocks,  but  on  the  west  side  all  access  is  barred, 
for  the  snow  fills  a  basin  whose  walls  of  rock  rise, 
on  that  side,  smooth  and  sheer  without  ledge  or 
cranny.  The  ice-slope  itself  could  not  be  climbed 
without  laborious  cutting  of  steps.  It  is  similar 
in  appearance  to  the  snow-field  on  Table  Moun- 
tain, but  larger  and  deeper.  The  evidence  that 
it  is  of  a  glacial  character  rests  entirely  in  the  fact 
that  blocks  of  ice  twenty  to  thirty  feet  square, 
and  from  three  to  six  feet  thick,  have  fallen  off 
into  the  water,  showing  that  they  have  been 
squeezed  out  by  pressure  from  above.  A  tongue 
of  ice  extended  out  into  the  water  for  perhaps 
thirty  feet,  having  in  it,  under  water,  three  large 
wedge-shaped  crevasses,  while  above  the  water-line 
were  five  similar  ones  in  succession.  Some  'hun- 
dreds of  feet  higher  up,  on  the  west  side,  were  sev- 
eral ice-chasms,  one  that  was  probably  eight  feet 
wide. 


STONE'S   PEAK.  157 

The  snow-field  is  not  over  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
wide,  and  a  thousand  feet  high.  It  is  a  body  of 
neve  to  which  there  is  no  trunk  except  the  tongue 
of  ice  referred  to,  which  is  the  result  of  pressure, 
and  resembles  an  ice-stream.  In  comparison  with 
Hallett  Glacier  it  is  much  steeper,  rivals  it  in 
the  size  of  the  ice-masses  that  have  fallen  into 
the  lake,  but  is  inferior  to  it  in  the  size,  though 
not  in  the  number,  of  its  crevasses. 

The  cliffs  that  surround  the  ice  are  so  smooth 
and  worn  that  but  little  debris  falls  on  the  snow. 
A  few  small  stones  lay  on  the  Avest  side,  and 
quite  a  large  mass  of  bowlders  rested  on  the  east- 
ern edge,  about  a  hundred  feet  above  the  lake. 
My  impression  is  that  any  rocks  that  fall  on  the 
ice  near  the  summit  are  carried  down  and  de- 
posited in  the  lake. 

The  top  of  the  dike  which  walls  in  the  water  is 
free  from  loose  stones.  On  the  lake  side,  however, 
it  is  covered  with  rocks,  and  all  along  the  banks 
of  the  lake  are  big  bowlders.  While  I  was  ex- 
amining the  ice  my  companion  cut  his  name  on 
a  little  stick  which  he  carried,  and  building  a 
cairn  on  the  top  of  a  large  rock  on  the  edge  of 
the  water,  left  the  stick  in  the  cairn. 

Standing  upon  the  dike  high  above  the  lake, 
just  before  leaving  the  ice-field,  I  was  surprised 


158  MOUNTAINEERING  IN  COLORADO. 

to  find  that  I  could  see  a  point  on  Sheep  Moun- 
tain, where  I  had  stood  in  July,  and  there  made 
record  of  the  snow-fields  visible,  twenty  in  num- 
ber. Of  these,  one  situated  on  Hague's  Peak  had 
entirely  disappeared,  two  had  diminished  to  mi- 
nute white  patches,  while  the  remaining  seven- 
teen had  essentially  retained  their  size.  I  never 
should  have  suspected  that  this  particular  ice- 
field, one  of  the  seventeen,  had  such  great  size 
and  depth;  but  a  few  days  later,  when  visiting 
Sheep  Mountain,  I  found  that  I  could  see,  with 
the  aid  of  a  spy-glass,  the  large  crevasses  before 
referred  to. 

At  half-past  five  o'clock  we  began  to  realize 
that  we  must  take  a  return  journey,  part  of  it 
over  unfamiliar  ground,  and  must  cover  a  distance 
that  had  taken  us  twelve  hours'  time  to  accomplish, 
—  ten  hours  in  actual  motion.  We  got  under  way. 
Evidently  it  was  a  great  day  for  game,  for  we 
started  up  two  badgers  the  first  thing.  It  was 
fortunate  for  us  that  daylight  lasted  while  we 
were  descending  the  ledges,  for  it  would  have  been 
a  hazardous  undertaking  two  hours  later.  Lower 
down  very  steep  grass-slopes  required  care  on 
account  of  their  slipperiness,  caused  by  rain  ;  but 
we  were  able  to  make  very  quick  time  until  dark- 
ness overtook  us  in  the  dense  forest  and  long  be- 


STONE'S  PEAK.  159 

fore  we  reached  the  trail.  What  had  been  snow 
in  the  mountains  had  been  rain  in  the  canons,  and 
we  were  wet  through. 

This  unnamed  and  unexplored  canon  rivals  in 
the  steepness  of  its  walls  many  of  the  famous 
gorges  of  Colorado.  A  grand  forest  fills  it  from 
Willow  Park  nearly  up  to  the  Continental  Divide ; 
tires  have  never  ravaged  it ;  it  is  truly  primeval. 
The  noble  trees  are  Engelmann  spruce,  and  for 
several  miles  we  walked  among  trees  seventy- 
five  feet  tall.  The  ground  was  mossy  and  spongy. 
We  kept  on  "benches"  as  far  as  possible,  but 
were  continually  forced  to  cross  and  recross  the 
streams  to  avoid  the  ledges  and  rock-falls  which 
swept  down  on  either  side. 

At  eight  o'clock  it  was  very  dark,  but  the 
nearly  full  moon  appeared  above  the  southeastern 
walls  and  gave  us  some  light.  Unfortunately 
from  that  time  on  we  had  to  keep  on  the  south- 
erly side  of  the  gorge,  and  had  only  reflected  light 
from  the  opposite  walls,  but  that  was  better  than 
nothing.  We  got  along  best  when  we  could  walk 
on  fallen  timber  that  chanced  to  lie  parallel  with 
the  river ;  but  when  the  fallen  trees  formed  a  net- 
work we  had  to  go  very  slowly,  sitting  down  on 
the  logs  and  throwing  our  feet  over,  at  the  risk 
of  breaking  our  legs  in  many  falls.  Once  my 


160 


MOUNTAINEERING   IN   COLORADO. 


companion  turned  to  me  and  said,  "  Are  you  very 
tired  ?  "  I  gave  the  usual  answer  for  such  occa- 
sions,  "Not  a  bit." 
"It's  lucky  for  you, 
then,  for  we  are  a 
long  way 
from  the 
horses." 

For  the 
crossing  of 
the  torrent 
we  always 
found  a 
fallen  log 
at  hand, 
which  we 
bravely 
walked  up- 
right, not- 
withstand- 
i  n  g  the 
slippery 
surfac  e  s. 
At  the  final 

crossing,  however,  after  Hallett  had  stepped  lightly 
over,  I  basely  straddled  the  log  and  used  my  hands 
as  propellers. 


STONE'S  PEAK.  161 

What  misery  we  should  have  endured  that 
night,  if  we  had  not  been  perfectly  well  and  strong  ! 
When  we  struck  the  elk- trail  I  wondered  if  the 
mountain  lion  was  still  near,  and  for  the  tenth 
time  lit  my  pipe.  As  my  companion  remarked,  if 
we  had  been  killed  by  accident  or  by  wild  beasts, 
none  but  experienced  trailers  would  ever  have 
been  able  to  find  our  bodies  in  the  dense  forest. 

We  gained  the  horses  at  10.30  P.  M.  Finding 
that  it  was  too  dark  to  ride  safely  for  the  first  half- 
hour,  we  floundered  along  toward  the  "open," 
mounting  only  to  cross  the  stream.  A  wild 
gallop  we  had  when  we  did  reach  the  meadows, 
and  midnight  saw  us  in  our  cabins. 


11 


APPENDIX. 


A  PARTIAL  LIST  OF  PLANTS  GROWING  IN 
ESTES  PARK,   COLORADO. 

OBSERVED  DURING  THE  MONTHS  OP  JULY,  AUGUST,  AND  SEPTEMBER. 


Anemone,  WIND-FLOWER. 

A.  patens,  var.  Nuttalliana. 

A.  cylindrica. 

A.  dichotoma. 
Thalictrum,  MEADOW-RUE. 

T.  cornuti. 

T.  sparsiflorum. 
Ranunculus,  BUTTERCUP. 

R.  tlammiila,  var.  reptans. 

R.  see  le rat  us. 

R.  Cymbalaria. 

R.  affinis,  var.  cardiophyllus. 

R.  aquatilis,  var.  trichophyllus. 

R.  Nuttallii. 

R.  hyperboreus,  var.  natans. 
Caltha,  MARSH  MARIGOLD. 

C.  leptosepala. 
Aquilegia,  COLUMBINE. 

A.  coerulea. 
A.  chrysantha. 
A.  brevistyla. 
Delphinium,  LARKSPUR. 

D.  occidentale. 
Aconitum,  ACONITE. 

A.  Columbian um. 
Actaea,  BANERERRY. 
A.  spicata,  var.  rubra. 


Berberis,  BARBERRY. 

B.  re  pens. 

Arabia,  ROCK  CRESS. 
A.  Holboellii. 

Cardamine,  BITTER  CRESS. 

C.  cordifolia. 

Erysimum. 

E.  asperum,  var.  Arkansanum. 
Lepidium,  PENNY  CRESS. 

L.  intermedium. 
Viola,  VIOLET. 

V.  biflora. 

V.  palustris. 

Silene,  CATCHFLY. 

S.  Scouleri. 

S.  acaulis. 
Saponaria. 

S.  Vaccaria. 
Lychnis,  COCKLE. 

L.  montana. 

Cerastium,  MOUSE-EAR  CHICK- 
WEED. 

C.  alpinum,  var.  Behringianum. 
Stellaria,    CHICKWEED. 

S.  longifolia. 


164 


APPENDIX. 


Arenaria,  SANDWORT. 

A.  capillaris,  var.  nardifolia. 

A.  biflora,  var.  carnosula. 

A.  lateriflora. 
Claytonia,  SPRING  BEAUTY. 

C.  Chamissonis. 

C.  Caroliniana,  var.  sessilifolia. 

C.  megarrhiza. 
Sidalcea,  MALLOW. 

S.  Candida. 
Linum,  FLAX. 

L.  perenne. 
Geranium,  CRANESBILL. 

G.  Richardsoni. 

G.  incisum. 

G.  caespitosum. 
Ceanothus,  NEW  JERSEY  TEA. 

C.  velutinus. 

C.  Fendleri. 
Acer,  MAPLE. 

A.  glabrum. 
Thermopsis. 

T.  niontana. 
Lupinus,  LUPINE. 

L,  Burkei. 
Trifolium,  CLOVER. 

T.  dasyphyllum. 

T.  nanum. 
Oxytropis. 

O.  Lamberti. 

O.  Lamberti,  var.  sericea. 
Physocarpus,  NINE-BARK. 

P.  opulifolia. 
Holodiscus. 

H.  discolor,  var.  dumosa. 
Rubus,  RASPBERRY. 

R.  deliciosus. 

R.  strigosus. 
Purshia. 

P.  tridentata. 
Dryas. 

D.  octopetala. 


Geum,  AVENS. 

G.  macrophyllum. 

G.  rivale. 

G.  Rossi  i. 
Potentilla,  FIVE-FINGER. 

P.  arguta. 

P.  dissecta. 

P.  supina. 

P.  gracilis. 

P.  Hippiaua. 

P.  effusa. 

P.  fruticosa. 

P.  Anserina. 
Sibbaldia. 

S.  procumbens. 
Agrimonia,  AGRIMONY. 

A.  Eupatoria. 
Rosa,  ROSE. 

R.  blanda. 

R.  Arkansana. 
Amelanchier,  JUNE-BERRY. 

A.  alnifolia. 
Saxifraga,  SAXIFRAGE. 

S.  flagellaris. 

S.  chrysantha. 

S.  caespitosa. 

S.  cernua. 

S.  bronchial  is. 

S.  rivularis. 

S.  Jamesii. 

S.  punctata. 
Mitella,  MITRE-WORT. 

M.  pentandra. 
Heuchera,  ALUM-ROOT. 

H.  bracteata. 

Parnassia,  GRASS  OF  PARNAS- 
SUS. 

P.  parviflora. 
Jamesia. 

J.  Americana. 
Ribes,  CURRANT,  GOOSEBERRY. 

R.  cereum. 


APPENDIX. 


165 


Sedum,  STONE-CROP. 

S.  Rhodiola. 

S.  rhodanthum. 

S.  stenopetalum. 
Epilobium,    WILLOW-HERB. 

E.  spicatum. 

E.  coloratura. 
Gayophytum. 

G.  racemosum. 

CEnothera,     EVENING     PRIM- 
ROSE. 

CE.  biennis. 

CE.  albicaulis. 

CE.  caespitosa. 
Mentzelia. 

M.  multiflora. 
Opuntia. 

O.  Missouriensis. 
Ligusticum,  LOVAGE. 

L.  apiifoliuin. 

L.  montanum. 
Linnaea,  TNVIN-FLOWER. 

L.  borealis. 
Galium,  BEDSTRAW. 

G.  boreale. 
Valeriana,  VALERIAN. 

V.  edulis. 
BrickeUia. 

B.  grandiflora. 

Liatris,  BLAZING  STAR. 
L.  punctata. 
L.  scariosa. 

Grindelia,  GUM-PLANT. 
G.  squarrosa. 

Chrysopsis,  GOLDEN  ASTER. 

C.  villosa. 

Aplopappus. 

A.  Parryi. 

Bigelovia,    RAYLESS   GOLDEN- 
ROD. 

B.  Douglasii,  var.  tortifolia. 


Solidago,  GOLDENROD. 

S.  liumili-. 

S.  humilis,  var.  nana. 
Aster. 

A.  oblongifolius,  var.  rigidulus. 

A.  laevis. 

A.  adscendens. 

A.  foliaceus,  var.  frondeus. 

A.  glaucus. 
Erigeron,  FLEABANE. 

E.  macranthus. 

E.  glabellus,  var.  mollis. 

E.  compositus. 

E.  divergens. 
Anaphalis,  EVERLASTING. 

A.  niargaritacea. 
Gnaphalium,  EVERLASTING. 

G.  Sprengelii. 

G.  strictum. 
Rudbeckia,  CONEFLOWER. 

K.  hirta. 

K.  laciniata. 
Helianthus,  SUNFLOWER. 

H.  annuus. 

H.  pumilus. 

H.  Nuttallii. 
Bahia. 

B.  chrysanthemoides. 
Actinella. 

A.  depressa. 

A.  grandiflora. 
GaiUardia. 

G.  aristata. 
Achillea,  YARROW. 

A.  Millefolium. 

Artemisia,  WORMWOOD,  SAGE- 
BRUSH. 

A.  frigida. 

A.  biennis. 

A.  Norvegica. 

A.  Ludoviciana. 

A.  Mexicana. 

A.  tridentata. 


166 


APPENDIX. 


Arnica. 

Moneses. 

A.  cordifolia. 

M.  uniflora. 

A.  latifolia. 

Pyrola,  WINTERGREEN. 

A.  Parryi. 

P.  minor. 

A.  alpina. 

P.  secunda. 

Senecio,  GROUNDSEL. 

P.  chlorantha. 

S.  amplectens. 

P.  rotundifolia,  var.  uliginosa. 

S.  Bigelovii. 

Chimaphila,  PIPSISSEWA. 

S.  cernuus. 
S.  Fremont!  . 

C.  umbellata,  "Prince's  Pine." 

S.  rapifolius. 

Pterospora,  PINEDROPS. 

S.  triangularis. 

P.  andromedea. 

S.  serra. 

Dodecatheon,        SHOOTING- 

S.  crassulus. 

STAR. 

S.  lugens,  var.  foliosus. 

D.  Meadia. 

S.  aureus,  var.  borealis. 

S.  aureus,  var.  croceus. 

Primula,  PRIMROSE. 

S.  Douglas!  i. 
Cnicus,  PLUMED  THISTLE. 

P.  angustifolia. 
P.  Parryi. 

C.  Americanus. 

Androsace. 

Hieracium,  HAWICWEED. 

A.  Chama?jasme. 

H.  grncile,  var.  detonsum. 
H.  albiflorum. 

Apocynum,  INDIAN  HEMP. 
A.  androsaemifolium. 

Prenanthes. 

Gentiana,  GENTIAN. 

P.  racemosa. 

G.  serrata. 

G.  barbellata. 

Lygodesmia. 
L.  juncea. 

G.  heterosepala. 
G.  prostrata. 

Troximon. 

G.  frigida. 

T.  glaucum. 

G.  Parryi. 

T.  glaucum,  var.  dasycephalum. 

G.  affinis. 

Lactuca,  LETTUCE. 

G.  Bigelovii. 

L.  pulchella. 

Swertia. 

Campanula,  HAREBELL. 

S.  perennis. 

C.  uniflora. 

Frasera. 

C.  planiflora. 

F.  speciosa. 

C.  rotundifolia. 

Phlox. 

Vaccinium,  BLUEBERRY. 

P.  Douglasii. 

V.  Myrtillus,  var.   microphyl- 

Giiia. 

lum. 

G.  gracilis. 

Arctostaphylos,   BEARBERRY. 

G.  spicata. 

A.  Uva-ursi  "  Kinnikinnick." 

G.  pinnatifida. 

APPENDIX. 


167 


Polemonium,    GREEK    VALE- 
RIAN, JACOB'S  LADDER. 
P.  confertuin. 

P.  confertum,  var.  mellitum. 
P.  humile,  var.  pulchellum. 
P.  coeruleum. 

Phacelia. 
P.  integrifolia. 
P.  sericea. 

Echinospermum,  STICKSEED. 
E.  Redowskii. 

Krynitzkia. 
K.  Californica. 
K.  virgata. 

Mertensia,  LUNGWORT. 
M.  Sibirica. 
M.  alpina. 

Myosotis,  FORGET-ME-NOT. 
M.  sylvatica,  var.  alpestris. 

Lithospermum,  GROMWELL. 
L.  multiflorum. 

Pentstemon,  BEARD-TONGUE. 
P.  glaber. 
P.  glaucus,  var.  stenosepalus. 

Chionophila. 
C.  Jamesii. 

Mimulus.  MONKEY-FLOWER. 
M.  floribundus. 

Synthyris. 
S.  alpina. 

Veronica,  SPEEDWELL. 
V.  Americana. 
V.  alpina. 
V.  peregrina. 

Castilleia,  PAINTED  CUP. 
C.  linaria>folia. 
C.  pallida. 
C.  pallida,  var.  occidentalis. 

Orthocarpus. 
0.  luteus. 


Pedicularis,  LOUSEWORT. 

P.  Gra-nlandica. 

P.  Parryi. 

P.  racemosa. 

P.  procera. 
Aphyllon. 

A.  uniflorum. 
Utricularia,  BLADDERWORT. 

U.  vulgaris. 
Monarda,  HORSE-MINT. 

M.  tistulosa. 
Brunella. 

B.  vulgaris. 
ScuteUaria,  SKULLCAP. 

S.  resinosa. 
S.  galericulata. 
Stachys,  WOUNDWORT. 
S.  palustris. 

Chenopodium,  PIGWEED. 

C.  capitatum. 
Eriogonum. 

E.  alatum, 

E.  heracleoides. 

K.  flavum. 

Oxyria,  MOUNTAIN  SORREL. 
O.  digyna. 

Polygonum,  KNOTWEED. 
P.  tenue,  var.  microsperinum. 
P.  viviparum. 

Shepherdia,  BUFFALO-BERRY. 

S.  C'anadensis. 
Betula,  BIRCH. 

B.  glandulosa. 
Alnus,  ALDER. 

A.  viridis. 

A.  incana,  var.  virescens. 
Populus,  POPLAR. 

P.  tremuloides. 

P.  angustifolia. 
Habenaria,  ORCHID. 

H.  obtusata. 


168 


APPENDIX. 


Spiranthes,  LADIES'  TRESSES. 
S.  Komanzoffiana. 

Goodyera,  RATTLESNAKE  PLAN- 
TAIN. 
G.  Menziesii. 

Listera. 
L.  cordata. 

Iris,  BLUE  FLAG. 
I.  Missouriensis. 


Sisyrmchium, 
GRASS. 

S.  mucronatum. 
Allium,  ONION. 

A.  cernuum. 


BLUE  -  EYED 


Smilacina,    FALSE    SOLOMOJS'S 
SEAL. 

S.  amplexicaulis. 

S.  stellata. 
Lilium,  LILY. 

L.  Philadelphicum. 
Lloydia. 

L.  serotina. 
Calochortus. 

C.  Gunnisoni. 
Streptopus. 

S.  amplexifolius. 
Zygadenus. 

Z.  elegans. 
Sagittaria,  ARROWHEAD. 

S.  variabilis. 


CONIFERS   (Pine  Family). 


Juniperus,  JUNIPER. 

J.  commuuis,  var.  alpina. 

J.  Virginiana. 
Abies,  FIR. 

A.  subalpina. 

Pseudotsuga,         DOUGLAS 
SPRUCE. 

P.  Douglasii. 


Picea,  SPRUCE. 
P.  Engelmanni. 
P.  pungens. 

Pinus,  Pine. 
P.  edulis. 

P.  ponderosa,  var.  scopulorum. 
P.  contorta. 


LYCOPODINE^J   (Club-mosses). 

Selaginella.  I  Lycopodium. 

S.  rupestris.  L.  annotinum. 


FILICES   (Ferns). 


Polypodium  vulgare. 
Cryptogramme    acrostichoi- 

des. 
Pteris  aquilina. 


Asplenium  Trichomanes. 
Phegopteris  Dryopteris. 
Cystopteris  fragilis. 
Woodsia  Oregana. 


EQUISETACE-ffi    (Horse-tail  Family). 
Equisetum  arvense. 


